


Shadowhawk

by JED1



Series: Miraculous Tales [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AR, Action/Adventure, Alternate Reality, Cliffhangers warning, Drama, Duusu renamed Regaal for PLOT reasons, Female-Pronoun-Nooroo, Gen, Heavy Anticanon for Other Heroes/Miraculous/etc, Kidnapping warning, Male-pronoun Peacock kwami for PLOT reasons, Medium Anticanon for Miraculous Abilities/Powers/etc, Medium Anticanon for World history/World Building, Medium Canon Divergence, Non-Canon Peafowl Kwami name, Non-Canon-Paon/Peacock Chosen, Plot has gone AR and diverged heavily from canon plot, Wee bit of angst, Wee bit of fluff, drugging warning, someone is having a VERY bad day, ‘For Want of a Nail the Kingdom was Lost’ Trope is Strong Here, • Heavy Anticanon Kwami Origins/Backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-02-27 16:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 55,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13252545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JED1/pseuds/JED1
Summary: Tikki considered her Chosen, then closed her eyes.  ~Plagg?~~I hate this plan.  Afternoon, Tikki. I hate this plan.  Sorry about not being in range earlier. This is the worst plan to have ever been planned.  Why did the kid have to come up with this? It’s such a stupid plan.  Why couldn’t we come up with an alternative? I hate this plan.~Tikki blinked.  ~Afternoon.  I’m sorry I couldn’t come up with an alternative in time.~~Not your fault.  I couldn’t either.  We pretty much forgot to ask Wayzz thanks to the whole Spy and lost Charm thing.  You’ll keep the buglet from going off to do her own thing, right?  Things are risky enough right now.~~I will.  What exactly IS this plan of Adrien’s?~Plagg groaned.  ~Oh, you’re gonna LOVE this…~





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>   
> [Original Akuma](https://meggymoohoo.tumblr.com/post/142210483470/what-if-the-akumas-kept-the-appearance-of-the) design a commission from the ever amazing [Meggymoohoo!](http://meggymoohoo.tumblr.com)  
>  ~~~~~~  
> To see the changes to canon tv-series, and headcanons and anticanons that are canon in my fanficseries, such as Miraculous Restoration and the Glamour, please click [here.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8189071/chapters/25892577)  
> To see what my Statute of Limitations on Spoiler Warnings _(the amount of time that I will post Spoiler Warnings at the start of chapters/in comments_ ) as well as seeing a list of Fandom Terminology that I use in my tags, notes and comments, please click [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8189071/chapters/19397227).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler Warning for 2a01-The Collector  
> ~~~~~~  
> There were some points of note changed in Volpina and Princess Fragrance and small scenes added to the series in general that are mentioned in this chapter that show up in the ‘Fix-It Fic’ series that can be found here. But the three important points of note at the moment are:  
> Over the course of the first season, Marinette and Adrien would occasionally find small letters and other bits of advice and aid in their rooms, as text messages on their magical items, etc. Basically instead of being a silent observer from the sidelines, Fu was giving them anonymous aid during season 1.  
> In **_Volpina_** , the changes are technically small and is that rather than Lila dumping the Grimoire into the trashcan, Tikki phased into Lila’s bag and stole the grimoire from the bag via phasing back out of the bag with it. The second change of note is that Tikki refers to Fu as the LAST Guardian rather than the Great Guardian ( _Oh and the grimoire is referred to as a Grimoire as it is in the French dub here_ ). The third change ( _maybe, I’m actually wondering if this is canon or not_ ) is that Marinette was actually on the money and Lila DID cast a type of spell over the school, a mild form of the glamour essentially that made it much more likely for people to both believe and like her.  
> In **_Princess Fragrance_** , there was a large change with several smaller cascading changes: Tikki sneezed in Ali’s pocket just after Chat had everyone pole-slide down on his baton. Chat heard it and thus discovered Tikki’s presence.  
> The Chaperon and Chloé drove away in Adrien’s limo to draw Princess Fragrance away while Chat took Tikki ( _and Prince Ali to keep him safe by order of the Chaperone and in plain common sense_ ) to Master Fu’s… as Adrien had taken Plagg there earlier in the day – skipping school to do so – when Plagg got sick. While at Fu’s Chat looked up basic gas masks and, once Tikki was healed, left Ali at Fu’s and went with Tikki to get two clear-face-gasmasks ( _think Cameron’s Avatar_ ). Tikki saw/felt Marinette and headed off with one of the masks to find her while Chat went on ahead to fight Princess Fragrance. There were other changes, but that – the fact that Marinette has NOT YET BEEN TO FU’S MASSAGE PARLOR/MET FU – is what is important at the moment.  
> ~~~~~~  
> …Totally unrelated, but I’m debating starting to use the interrobang (‽) instead of !? or ?!, thoughts?

There was no way this could get any worse.

Adrien dumped the contents of his school bag onto his computer desk, books, binders, tablet, pencils, markers, pens and all the other paraphernalia of school scattering across the brushed metal surface, but the book he’d taken from his father’s safe failed to materialize. 

Père was gonna kill him. Adrien’s breath hitched faster and he looked into his upside down school bag, but it remained stubbornly empty. He spun around to glare at the couch. “Are you the one who took Père’s book?!” 

Plagg wedged the blue fan pin he’d been examining back between the seat cushions of the couch and stuffed half a round of camembert into his mouth. “Uhf cohse noht!!” he called around the cheese. 

“If he discovers its disappearance, his anger will be worse than Papillon’s!!” 

Plagg waited, ears twitching, and relaxed when he heard Adrien turn back to the computer desk and the items upon it. Whew. Kid wasn’t going to come over here. At least not yet. 

Tossing the rest of the camembert round into his mouth, he pulled the Peacock pin out from between the seat cushions again, studying it while he chewed. 

_~Tikki.~_

_~Yes, Plagg?~_

_~That was you that nicked the grimoire out of Lila’s bookbag, right?~_

_~Yes. I’m having Marinette take it to Fu. …Actually we’re one bus stop away from Fu’s home right now. I… I have to admit that THIS was not something I expected when I turned my luck to ‘finding an excuse to introduce our Chosen to Fu’, Plagg. And… I’m sorry that my taking the grimoire means that you’ll have to wait with Adrien…~_

_~Oh, don’t worry. I won’t have to wait.~_

_~PLAGG. We AGREED on-~_

_~No, you insisted on. But don’t worry. I’ve got something just as ‘good’ as the Grimoire.~_

_~…What could possibly-~_

_~The Peacock Pin was in the safe as well. I grabbed it while the Kid was distracted by the grimoire.~_

_~WHAT?!~_

_~The Peacock Pin was in-~_

_~PLAGG!~_

Plagg winced, feeling a stab in his temples as he started to get to the upper limits of how long he and Tikki could talk like this. 

_~Yes. The Peacock Pin. Real deal too, I can feel Regaal in there… gonna use it to get the kid to Fu’s. Ow… Ugh, stupid limits… Tikki, I’ll fill you in later okay? Plus I really, REALLY, REALLY need to fill you on my Kid’s stupid plan so you can come up with something better ASAP.~_

_~…Oh that’s not worrying at all. …ow… okay, bus stopping anyway. We’ll talk later?~_

_~Later,~_ Plagg promised and let the link drop. 

On the bus, Tikki sighed and rubbed at her temples for a moment. Ugh. Stupid limitations. And that ‘Plan’ had sounded important. And now she’d have to wait several hours before she and Plagg could do more than exchange a few words. 

Hopefully, whatever Adrien was planning was not something he intended to enact before tomorrow morning. 

The bus came to a stop, brakes hissing, and Marinette got to her feet. Tikki waited until Marinette was off the bus, then opened the purse and smiled up at Marinette before carefully poking her head out of the purse to get her bearings. Hmmm, yes this was the right part of the 8th arrondissement. Tikki poked her head a little further out of the purse to check the street signs – alright. 

“Go three blocks straight ahead, then make a right, Marinette. About two blocks down you’ll see a three story white building with red flowers in the balconies. The Last Guardian will be on the second floor, in apartment 201.” 

Marinette gulped and nodded, left hand tightening on the strap of her backpack. Taking a deep breath, she struck off down the road, and soon was standing in front of a modest three-story building. She walked in through the doors of a small lobby area. There was a young woman sitting at the reception desk, she looked up from her phone when Marinette walked in and offered a smile. Marinette smiled back and looked at the sign beside her. It seemed that the single room on the first floor was a small antique shop. The second floor had a massage parlor and a ‘Traditional Medicine’ practice – both run by a ‘Master Fu’ – and the third floor was apparently two loft style apartments, only one currently available. According to the sign, Master Fu seemed to alternate days on which place he worked from. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays being the days the Massage Parlor was open; Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays being the days the ‘Traditional Medicine’ practice were open. ( _Did anyone else find the fact that Traditional Medicine was in quotation marks on this sign disquieting? No? Just Marinette? Because honestly WHY was it in quotes?! Was it not really traditional? Not really medicine? Was it to emphasize it was not modern medicine but something ‘special’ and ancient? WHY WERE THERE QUOTATION MARKS?!_ ) 

Not wanting to feel trapped, Marinette went up the stairs rather than using the elevator to get up to the second floor. The building was small, with only two room on each floor it seemed, one on either end of the hall. The room on the left side of this floor, 201, had a modest sign beside it that declared it to be ‘Master Fu’s Massage Parlor’ with a bunch of Chinese characters underneath it that she… guessed? …said the same thing. The door on the right side declared that it was ‘Master Fu’s Traditional Herbal Remedies and Medicines’, with more Chinese characters underneath it. 

Tikki flew out from Marinette’s purse. “This is it. It’s best if you take the Grimoire out now, Marinette.” 

Marinette nodded and slung her backpack around and unzipped it, and carefully pulled the grimoire Lila had stolen from Adrien and she’d stolen from Lila out, hugging it to her chest as she zipped her backpack back up and swung it back around onto her back. 

Okay. She could do this. Tikki wouldn’t steer her wrong. She was a big girl and a super hero and she could do anything. 

Marinette raised a hand and knocked on the door. 

“Come in.” 

Marinette opened the door and peeked in, Tikki hiding behind her shoulder for the moment. An old man, as bitty as Alix if not shorter, sat lotus style on the massage bed that dominated the room, his eyes closed. He opened his eyes as Marinette walked in, and he smiled gently. 

“Hello, Ladybug.” 

_Oh boy._

Taking a slow breath, and clutching the grimoire to her chest, Marinette walked into the room. She heard Tikki fly behind her, to the door she’d left open, closing it was a soft click before Tikki flew ahead of Marinette. “I know that we’d agreed it was best to not bring our Chosen here, but…” Tikki sighed. “Papillon has been changing his pattern lately, drastically and dangerously, and then…” 

Tikki darted forward towards the old man suddenly, voice rising slightly. “You need to see what we found!” Tikki raced back to Marinette and pointed at the grimoire clutched to the young teen’s chest. “Show him, Marinette!” 

“But… You said that no one must every know, Tikki. I trust YOU, Tikki, but I’ve never met you before, sir, I don’t know if I can trust you…” she looked at the little old man. He was unassuming and non-threatening… but many Champions were the same before the trap snapped closed. 

He surprised her with a chuckle. “No, you have no reason to trust me, although we have met before.” He smiled. “I am not surprised you don’t remember it, you had such a busy first day of school, saving an old man from his own foolishness and pulling him to the safety of the sidewalk likely was lost amidst the rest of the day’s happenings.” 

Marinette’s eyes went wide. She did remember that and, now that he’d mentioned it, she did have to admit that he looked remarkably like the little old man she’d dragged from the street back in September. 

“I wasn’t there by chance, of course. In most circumstances, Kwamis can sense when one of their own transform someone for the first time, as that action sparks the creation of a bond between Kwami and Chosen that lasts a life-time. I… am no longer able to fight. Indeed, even transforming is highly difficult for me now. I knew that the world needed new heroes who could stand against the Butterfly. Tikki and Plagg have the ability to pick out candidates within their range of – well, ‘aura detection’, I guess you could say. I went from person to person, examining each candidate’s aura and finding out what I could about them before giving each a test.” 

“So, when I saved you, that was my test?” 

“Exactly so, young lady. The final step of it, of course. Marinette; you are quick witted, bold, stubborn, in control of yourself and the situation, brave, able to make excellent use of even the oddest resources, certain of yourself and your place in the world, and always ready to help others. Tikki and I knew that you would be a formidable Ladybug.” 

“But… who are you?” 

The old man got to his feet, stiffly and slowly, and walked over to the record player that sat on the Chinese… dresser? Cabinet? The giant golden phonograph horn that stuck out from the record player made her think that it was OLD, maybe even ancient. Like, maybe from the 1920s! Actually, it looked a lot like the one from **An American Tale**. When had that been set, anyway? Ugh, another thing that – like the issue with the fire-hydrant wrenches – would be bugging her until she got an answer. Speaking of, she really DID need to remember to ask a fireman if the big wrenches were Guillemin or tricoise wrenches. The man pressed his thumbs against the eyes of two carved dragons… and their mouths opened, letting a wooden panel drop open. 

Okay, what?! 

Which revealed a set of wooden buttons, two rows of them. 5 on top, 4 below. He pressed three of them, too fast for her to see which, and the wooden panel swung closed, the dragon’s mouths closing again… before the recorder SPUN ON ITS BASE and the top dropped open like a jack in the box, and the printed wooden panel split and slid down the sides, revealing a second wooden panel that also split and slid down and out of the way. 

Which, WHAT?! 

And then it turned out that the record player was hollow and a wooden box rotated up like a ballerina… which… yeah, okay, EXTRA. The whole thing was ridiculously extra. Yes, the buttons to make it open made sense, but the whole turn and flip and sllooooow spiiiiin and riiiiiiiiiiise of reveal was just… 

…Someone had had WAY too much time on his hands. Like. WAY too much. ( _Also did that mean that the record player didn’t actually work? Since there were no innards to turn the record turntable?_ ) 

“Master Fu is the last known member of the Order of the Guardians,” Tikki explained, flying from her place by Marinette’s shoulder to hover in front of her, smiling the same smile as Master Fu, both waiting with their hands tucked behind their backs. It was odd, how similar their body language was, now that Marinette could see them at the same time. She wondered why that w- 

“Guardians of the Miraculous,” a new voice said and a green turtle like kwami flew out from the golden horn of the record player, smiling at her with a tiny bow… before suddenly darting forward – apparently too excited and curious to remain still – making Marinette take a step backward instinctively. “I’m Wayzz, Master Fu’s kwami! It’s a pleasure to meet you, Marinette!” 

Marinette glanced to the side, gauging Tikki’s reaction. 

“Wayzz likes meeting new people,” Tikki explained with a giggle. “He doesn’t get out much, as he helps Master Fu guard the Miraculi and other items.” 

“Err, same for me, Wayzz,” Marinette said, offering a smile. Things were just going too FAST. It felt like when she’d first met Tikki. Tikki had just gone so FAST, Marinette had never had a chance to stop and think or anything, it had just been an out of control landslide of information and then fighting and… she wished two kwamis and mysterious Master Fu would just slow down and let her catch up. 

Master Fu took the box out of the record player and held it before him. “As a Guardian, I am responsible for protecting and distributing the Miraculous.” He opened the box, revealing a raised section shaped like a yin-yang symbol. A ladybug symbol forming the eye of the black section, and a cat pawprint forming the eye of the white section. Around it were five sections, each a different color, three of them ( _a purple one with a butterfly symbol, a green one with a turtle shell symbol and a blue one with a… uh. Fan? symbol)_ were as empty as the Ladybug and Black Cat sections… but the yellow and orange ones had a gold hair comb and a foxtail necklace in them. “…for the good of all humanity.” Master Fu smiled and closed the box. Walking over to the small round table by the massage bed, he put the box down, picking up a small crystal as he did so before walking over to a framed painting on the wall. 

He waved the crystal over the painting… and the image of plants and chinese characters faded away… and then an image of a building – covered in snow with steep mountains visible behind it came into focus, the colors seeping up and spreading out like watercolors. 

“Guardians are… were… chosen as children from all over the world and trained for many years for this mission.” 

“Is… how did you do that with the picture? Is that like a memory crystal or something? If you can make the picture change why is it still and not moving?” 

Master Fu smiled and chuckled. “I used magic. The crystal is simply an easy way of storing certain spells so that I do not have to expend energy. It is far, FAR easier to do this spell with as few images as possible, as the crystal can only store so much power.” 

Oh. Okay, that made sense. 

…Also, really nice to have her questions ANSWERED for once. 

Marinette turned her attention to the picture where an old man in a red outfit with a long grey beard and mustache stood front and center, leading ranks of young people, all wearing the same colonial blue clothing that looked like the outfits people wore at karate class on TV… in some sort of martial arts training… tai chi maybe? It looked like Water Bending from Avatar and that was based on Tai Chi, right? 

Fu waved the crystal over the painting again, and the picture faded and changed. The blues and whites fading into golds, ambers and reds. Someone that looked like a younger version of the guy in the red suit from the first image ( _he had the same beard and mustache and hair it was just a dark brown now, and had the same utterly calm expression_ ) was handing a gold arm band to young boy with green eyes and slightly tussled hair in an outfit that did NOT look like the ones the Guardians in training had been wearing before. 

Actually, the arm band looked super familiar… where had she seen it before? Something to do with Chloé? Chloé did wear gold a lot and she did keep thinking Chloé when she saw the bracelet and- 

And then Marinette actually registered what was going on in the background - 

“Why is there a giant octopus?!” 

“That… well, that is not important at the moment.” 

“How is a giant octopu- …wait is that a SHIP in its tentacles? …I thought the people all wailing and despairing were close to it but if that’s a SHIP then – why is there a super giant octopus?! How is super ginormous octopus not important?” 

“We will come back to the kraken at a later date.” 

“…Promise?” 

“Yes, I promise. The giant octopus will be explained in detail later.” 

“…Okay. I’m gonna hold you to that.” 

“That is quite reasonable.” Master Fu said, smiling for a moment before he looked at the painting. 

And his smile slipped, old pain flashing across his face. “When we were much, much younger, we… *I* made a mistake.” Master Fu waved the crystal over the painting again, and the image of the giant octopus attack faded away to show… 

On towering mountains, to all appearances in the dead of night, a temple was burning. The same one that had been in the first image, maybe? It was hard to tell. It looked WAY bigger than the one in the first image. But in the foreground, wearing a cloak and clutching both the box that Master Fu had shown her that held the Miraculi, and the grimoire Marinette currently held to her own chest was a boy wearing the same blue clothing that the Guardians in training had been wearing, tears in his eyes as he looked back and the burning temple. 

“Because of me, the Guardians’ Temple was destroyed.” Fu closed his eyes, then waved the crystal over the painting again, and it faded to white, then the original image of water lilies and Chinese characters faded back. He walked to the small round table and sat down on the floor beside it. Marinette crept closer, but stayed standing, the grimoire still clutched tight to her chest. 

“On that dire day… much was lost. The accumulated teachings of the Guardians – a largely oral tradition. The library of the temple, filled with books and scrolls both magical and mundane. Many Chosen who battled to save what they could or were simply too far away to be contacted once the temple was lost. Spells intended for protection that sent magical items, Miraculi, and more scattering to the four winds… But despite these protections, many lives were lost… so far as I know, all of those who were Guardians were killed, as were – at minimum – most of the trainees. I could save only what I could carry, and grabbed the Miraculous box that held the most powerful of all the Miraculi on its top tier… but of those seven, two were unfortunately lost.” Master Fu turned and opened the Miraculous box and pointed at the purple section. “The Butterfly-” he pointed at the blue section with its ‘fan’ design. “-and the Peacock.” 

Oh, a peacock. That made a lot more sense than a ‘fan’ kwami. Also, did that mean that all kwamis were – for lack of a better term – animal themed? 

“Also lost that day was a most precious relic: the grimoire you found.” 

“But…” Marinette opened the grimoire, letting it fall open to a random page – a glimpse of a purple arm sending butterflies out to four people – before the pages settled on a fox themed hero. Volpina’s inspiration. “There are only drawings of old superheroes and a bunch of strange symbols.” 

“Not strange to a Guardian,” Master Fu said as he closed the Miraculous Box and got to his feet, taking it to the record player and putting it back in place before turning to look at Marinette again. “Back in the Temple, I never had the grimoire in my hands during my training. But I was taught enough to be able to partially decipher the code.” Fu held his hands out, not demanding the grimoire, but instead politely requesting it. 

Marinette looked to Tikki for guidance, and Tikki nodded with a reassuring smile. Marinette nodded and handed the grimoire to the Last Guardian. 

Fu smiled fondly as he opened the grimoire and looked through its pages. “There are, in these pages, various spells and information, such as ways of weaving protections and more into the very being of the suits conjured up by the kwamis’ power. …and even what little is still known about the creation and origin of the Miraculi and their crafting – abilities of various Miraculi that have been forgotten or locked away.” Master Fu smiled up at Marinette. “Until now.” 

Marinette stared, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. 

“Obviously this grimoire is invaluable! Please, tell me, how did it come into your possession?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As is evident… I’m breaking away from canon with more than just the Peacock Pin and the peafowl kwami's name/pronouns (There's actually a reason for this and for why I'm going to have Trixx be female. Actual things I built future vital PLOT around before the names and pronouns of the kwamis were revealed and I can't change it because of said VITAL plotting. Thus the Peacock kwami is male and is named Regaal. The Fox kwami is still Trixx, but like the english dub, is female. ...The Bee is having her name changed to Hunni because Pollen is the stupidest name ever, what even). I also am breaking away from the backstory/world building to a greater or lesser degree ( _depending on which element you’re talking about._ ) Some things are minor tweaks, such as the Guardians being multi cultural rather than ( _apparently_ ) all Chinese and tweaking the gold band in the ‘kraken’ image to look more like the Bracelet in Rogercop. Other are middling – such as there being more than just two Miraculi and the grimoire lost in that dire night. Some are BIG – like how the spell book does not contain new superpowers but instead will allow lost abilities to be regained, and spells/protections to be added… and also as I’ve mentioned prior, I am going VERY anticanon on the kwami origins/miraculous creation and backstory. Like seriously, 180% anticanon there. Also, what some of the things that SEEM like small changes to me/the audience may end up being bigger than initially realized. We’ll see as we move forward.
> 
> …But seriously though, what IS up with the SUPER GIANT OCTOPUS ATTACK?! Also I’ve looked over that particular image and WOW but that armband looks almost identical to the one from Rogercop! Even the engravings that can be seen share similarities! The only difference is Chloé’s was a closed band and the one in the memory was an open band, but that could be a miscommunication at some point in development/the making of the watercolor ‘memories’
> 
> …The other reason I made the Guardians multi-cultural is because so far as we can currently tell the Temple is in Tibet somewhere. And having a EXCLUSIVELY CHINESE group… in Tibet… when China has been trying to wipe out the Tibetan cultural identity ( _plus, literal genocide_ ) since they took control of Tibet in 1951 was a ‘No’ for me. A LOT of people are DEAD. You can’t have a Tibetan ‘hero’ if you want to show a film/any source of media in China. It’s seriously messed up and I will not freaking add to it. Thus, the Guardians are 100% a hodgepodge of cultures and peoples. Fu just happens to be one of the trainees who was Chinese.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay… NOW it couldn’t get any worse.

On the tablet Natalie held, a video was playing. It showed Adrien sneaking into his father’s atelier, heading over to the portrait of his mother and swinging it open, letting his fencing bag drop to his feet. Adrien gulped, but took a shaky breath when he realized that Plagg wasn’t showing up on the screen. Plagg must have remembered what Adrien had not – that the atelier had security cameras – and used the ‘kwami specialty’ trick to alter what was recorded. On the screen, Adrien started to reach for the safe then stopped and pulled his hands away took a step back, starting to reach down to pick up his fencing bag… 

When the safe swung open, seemingly having not been closed properly by Gabriel, and the grimoire, several scrolls and other items tumbled out, the Adrien on-screen scrambling to catch them. Adrien HAD to remember to give Plagg all the camembert the kwami wanted. The really EXPENSIVE stuff. Plagg deserved it after managing to make the video as… ‘best case’ as was possible. On the tablet, Adrien shuffled the items in his arms, putting everything back… but then hesitated and opened up the Miraculous book, his eyes going wide at what he saw, turning pages slowly until he hit Papillon, demanding to know what the villain was doing in a book of superheroes. He turned to look towards the door – the camera just barely picking up the click of the front door opening – and went to put the book back in the safe before stopping. Then Adrien’s jaw clenched and he closed the safe and the painting, and then stuffed the book into his fencing bag. Natalie hit a button on the tablet and the recording stopped playing. 

Gabriel stood with his back to Adrien, his hands clasped – tightly clenched – behind his back. “Why did you take the grimoire, Adrien?” 

Adrien sat, hunched on his computer chair, lacing his fingers together and clenching his hands so tight that it hurt. It was small, and subtle, and gave him something to focus on. “I… I just wanted to know what you were hiding that was so important behind Maman’s portrait… And then I saw Ladybug, and the Papillon in the grimoire and I just – I wanted to KNOW.” Adrien stared at the floor. “You…” his chest felt tight and he jerked forward slightly, unable to keep his thoughts to himself. “You never answer my questions, Père!” 

Not about this. Not about Maman. Not about why he’d had to spend his life in a gilded cage. Not about anything. 

He subsided back when his father didn’t look at him, didn’t even shift his weight. 

Didn’t acknowledge him at all. 

“I intended to give it back as soon as possible, I swear! The problem is…” Adrien gulped, clasping his hands between his knees again. “I lost it…” 

“And the pin?” 

Adrien blinked. Pin? 

“Adrien.” 

Adrien forced himself to look up from his carpet. “What pin?” 

“The Pe-” Gabriel looked over his shoulder, frowning, studying Adrien carefully. “Why did you take the fan pin from the safe?” 

“I…” But – but he hadn’t… He kind of remembered seeing a blue half circle leaning against the picture of Maman, and maybe that had been the pin, but he hadn’t really registered it, and wasn’t even certain if he was remembering it correctly now. “I didn’t, Père, I swear. I didn’t even see a pin.” 

“Sir, if I may…” 

“Yes, Natalie?” 

Natalie was staring at the tablet, re-watching the video – apparently muted. Adrien could see flashed of color and shapes in her glasses. “The recording shows that multiple items fell out of the safe when it swung open after, apparently, not being closed properly. Adrien does not handle or examine the Pin at any point. It is possible that it might have fallen into Adrien’s bag, since it was at his feet, without his knowledge.” Gabriel was silent for a moment, considering that as he stared at Adrien before finally looking back towards the windows. “Yes, I suppose that is possible. However… I am very upset. You have betrayed my trust, Adrien.” 

“I’m sorry. I’ll buy you a new copy-” 

“There isn’t any other copy!” Gabriel snapped in an icy tone. “This grimoire was-” her he broke off, breath hissing through his teeth as his hands clenched. “This grimoire was the last gift given to me by Emilie before…” Gabriel’s hands clenched tighter, and Adrien’s heart stopped. “Before she disappeared. It cannot be replaced, Adrien.” 

It… it had been from… it had been something of Maman’s? 

“I had no idea… If I’d known, I wouldn’t have taken it to school, I-” 

“You will never go back to that school again.” 

Adrien gasped, staring at his father’s back blankly. 

“You will resume homeschooling with Natalie. …Natalie will return shortly to see how far behind you have fallen this year.” 

Natalie nodded and followed Gabriel out of Adrien’s room, the door closing with a final sounding click. 

It had been from Maman. He’d lost the last gift Père had gotten from Maman. 

Adrien’s shoulders hunched. He deserved to be taken out of school. He should have known better, it had been his choice to take the grimoire, no one else’s. His fault for not keeping a better watch on it. 

He deserved to be locked in the gilded cage again. 

But… 

But there WAS something he could do. A way to get the grimoire back for his father. Adrien lunged to his feet and picked up his phone. There was one person who he needed to call. He hit the icon and held the phone to his ear, looking at the clock. A few minutes. He had a few minutes before Natalie would be back to test him to see where he was so that she could arrange the homeschooling schedule again. 

She picked up on the first ring, but he didn’t even let her speak. “I’ve only got a few minutes before Natalie is back, and my phone and net’ll probably be gone by the end of the day. I need your help. Here’s everything I know… ready?” 

#“Ready.”#

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, some changes to canon are present, mostly in that Gabe tells Adrien that the grimoire is a gift from Mamagreste rather than just the vague ‘source of my inspiration’, and… remember in TTSS where I had that moment of Alya watching a video Plagg had altered? That was set-up/establishment for this change from canon ( _also more than just a Gun on the Wall, but it was set up for this as well_ ).  
> Adrien also decides to DO SOMETHING rather than sitting passively around.  
> Oh and I’ll lay odds who he called is not who you’d expect XD
> 
>  ~~…Also, I named Mamagreste as it felt unnatural to have Gabe use anything but her given name here. I went with Adele simply because her portrait is simply a slightly modified version of Klimt’s ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’, more commonly called ‘The Lady in Gold’.~~  
>  Edit: 3/14/18: The episode Gorizilla aired, and Mamagreste was FINALLY named as Emilie... Almost certainly in tribute to Emilie Louise Flöge, Klimt's life-partner. As a result I edited this (and other) chapters where I'd had Mamagreste named. In my fanworks Mamagreste's full maiden name was Emilie Adele Flöge, and is now Emilie Adele Agreste.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a quick reminder… I have applied an anticanon to season 1 where Fu was giving the kids SOME aid and advice ( _usually in the form of letters or text on their magic items, etc_ ) during season 1. To the kids it was an unknown but helpful ally.  
> ~~~~~~  
> Also, to the person that cropped the image I modified of the golden band seen in Master Fu's memories and posted it on Reddit as from the canon show... Erm. Please don't do that? My godson, Joseph R-S, calling me up to tell me is not the best way to find out, and apparently the fact that I stated it was modified was ignored? I don't mind my fanart/fanmods being shown around, but please don't pass it off as something from the canon show as people might think that I did it for that purpose... And please also ask or at least TELL ME before reposting my art?

“So… all the letters… the texts we’d get on our magical items… all the little bits of advice and aid… That was you?”

Master Fu nodded, his attention largely on the grimoire as he slowly worked on the translations. “Yes. My age and health prevent me from transforming and fighting, and the magics I know would not be much aid in direct battle… Tikki did not want to have you reveal your identity, even to me, and so I could only provide indirect aid. Now that we have met, I will be able to provide more direct aid, as well as more direct advice.” 

“What kind of more direct?” 

Master Fu smiled and pulled a necklace out from under his shirt, letting Marinette see it. Two birds ( _one a swallow, another she couldn’t recognize_ ) carved out of amethyst with silver worked into it, holding up a bound butterfly – also made of amethyst against a round flat stone that shimmered in a myriad of colors. “These last months I have been making necklaces such as this one.” 

“Um?” 

“A swallow and a potoo. Two birds that hunt and eat butterflies and moths. The swallow during the day, the potoo at night. Amethyst is a stone tied to the mind and emotions that also holds magic and spells well. The stone the butterfly is bound to is aura quartz, the stone of the spirit or soul. Those who wear these are… invisible… to Papillon and his akuma. He cannot sense their emotions, nor could he read their thoughts even if an akuma were to possess an item of their possession.” 

Marinette’s eyes went wide. She could see the use of THAT. 

“I have, however, only been able to make a few thus far. A baker’s dozen. And they are not perfect. The magic must be recharged, and the accumulated energies it has taken in cleansed every seventh day. And yet, it is a protection that can lend you much aid.” 

Marinette nodded. She wished there was a way for her to give one to her parents and Alya and everyone else she cared about… but even ignoring that there was only 13 made, the fact that they needed to be recharged and cleansed meant she couldn’t just give them to people without explaining what the necklace was… and how could she do that while maintaining her secret identity? 

Oh. Wait. 

“Master Fu, could I have four extra necklaces?” 

Master Fu raised his eyebrows, and Marinette fidgeted, staring at her hands before taking a deep breath and looking up. 

“Alya and Nino, my friends… are friends with Chat Noir. And Chat’s visited my house two times now, and my parents know about it and – um – they might have figured out that he’s my age too. I’m his friend too now… as me, not just as Ladybug… if I tell them that Ladybug gave me this necklace so I’d be safe… Then I can give it to my parents and Alya and Nino and tell them it’s from Ladybug – which means I can tell them what they’re for and about needing to wear them and recharge them, and they’d understand that there aren’t many of them, and how people need to be ‘in the know’.” 

“Would they not want to protect their own families?” 

Marinette frowned. “Maybe? But… do you have enough for that?” 

“I have enough so that I could give you, your parents, Alya and Nino a necklace… but Alya’s family would take all that is left, save one, and that is not fair to the others, who might also have those they wish to protect. And while they are friends with Chat Noir, and they are important, there is no danger of Papillon discovering anything he does not already know, should he make the offer for them to be his Champions again. But once I have made more necklaces, I will let you know so that you can give enough for your parents, your friends, and their families as well, so long as they feel they can give an explanation that will have their family wearing it, recharging it, and not telling others about it.” 

Marinette slumped and nodded. That was true. Just being friends with Chat, and maybe knowing his real age wasn’t anything that Papillon didn’t know beforehand. And… well, Marinette wasn’t certain that someone as young as the twins would be able to NOT tell anyone and everyone about the ‘magic’ necklaces. 

Behind Marinette, Tikki winced. Oh boy. There was one secret that Alya and Nino knew that Marinette hadn’t realized yet… A secret that meant that they should get their own necklaces as soon as possible, to prevent Papillon from discovering that Chat Noir was Adrien. 

But, Plagg would be bringing Adrien to see Master Fu in, at most, a day or two – as soon as Adrien’s plan was finished. …Adrien would be able to tell Master Fu that both Alya and Nino knew who he was, and thus get the necklaces for them. The span of a few days SHOULD be safe enough, especially since both Alya and Nino knew that they had to stay off Papillon’s radar. 

Wayzz flew over to the old record player and vanished down the huge golden horn, coming out a moment later with a necklace much like Master Fu’s, which he offered to Marinette, who took it from the green kwami with a smile and put it on, tucking it out of sight beneath her shirt. Master Fu, for his part, picked up a piece of palm size clear quartz geode that had been made into a bowl and offered it to Marinette. “Fill this bowl with salt and every Saturday, place the necklace on top of the salt and leave it there for at least twelve hours before you wear it again.” 

Marinette nodded and put the geode bowl in her purse. “Do you think whoever stole the grimoire stole the Butterfly Brooch and Peacock Pin?” 

Fu glanced up from the grimoire at Marinette. His gaze became distant for a moment, staring into the past. “Yes. I have always had a certainty that whoever took the grimoire also took the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculi.” 

“You mean the owner of the grimoire could very well be Papillon!?” Marinette demanded, grabbing her pigtails, tugging at them. 

“How did you obtain this grimoire, Marinette?” 

“I- er…” 

No, no no… ADRIEN had had the grimoire, and that meant that he- Oh, nooooooooooo, that couldn’t be true. 

“Er, I found it, er, on a bench? In the park next to my – I mean next to the collège!” 

“Marinette!” 

Marinette bit her lip, refusing to look at Tikki. 

Tikki scowled, then flew forward. “The grimoire was brought to school by-” 

“TIKKI!” Marinette yelped, feeling betrayed. Tikki wasn’t supposed to do this! Why would she side with someone Marinette didn’t even KNOW? And on something as important as this? 

Tikki aimed another scowl at Marinette. “Marinette. I know that you don’t know Master Fu, and don’t know if you can trust him. But you could trust ME. I have known Master Fu for more than one hundred and seventy years. This is important, and he needs to know the truth, even if it isn’t something you want to talk about.” 

“We can’t tell him, Tikki!” They COULDN’T tell Fu that Adrien was the one that had the grimoire! “Adrien can’t be Papillon!” 

But… but what if he was? That would mean she was crazy in love with a SUPERVILLAIN! She’d have to give up her feelings for him! He wouldn’t be her Adrien anymore! They’d have to fi- 

“What? Why would you assume that Adrien is Papillon?” 

Marinette blinked, train of thought derailed. “Huh?” 

“Why would you assume Adrien is Papillon?” Fu asked again, closing the grimoire for a moment and setting it down on the table. 

“You… you just said that you were certain that whoever owned the grimoire would also own the Miraculi of the Peacock and Butterfly, and that would mean whoever had the grimoire was Papillon!” 

“No, I said that I was certain whoever stole it also stole the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculi.” 

“But-” 

“Marinette. …The theft was one-hundred-and-seventy-one years ago. I thought that these items had been lost forever – that the thief had died trying to escape the mountains, the grimoire and Miraculi lost in the blizzard if not the fire, as neither Miraculous has been used in all this time.” 

Oh. That, that made sense. And yet… “But for both of them to have shown up at the same time…” 

“Is odd. I will not deny such,” Fu said calmly. “However, it is possible that someone, such as the likely current owner of the grimoire, discovered the temple and in the burnt ruins found the grimoire and Butterfly brooch-” 

“And Peacock Pin.” 

Fu looked at Tikki, surprised. 

“I…” Tikki glanced at Marinette, then looked at Fu. “I can sense the Peacock Pin’s energy on the grimoire. They must have been stored in the same place.” 

Fu’s eyes narrowed, then went wide. “Ah, I understand.” He leaned back, thinking. “Hmm. That, unfortunately, does not help us narrow down between the possible options.” 

“It doesn’t?” Marinette asked. 

“No. Unless a Miraculous is placed in a specially spelled box – like the one I put Tikki and Plagg’s in – if they are within their Miraculous they are trapped within unless a potential Wielder dons them, and even then the kwami can choose to remain hidden within the Miraculous – a safety precaution to prevent them from being forced to reveal themselves before large groups of people.” 

“So… if they hadn’t been in the box, Tikki would only have – the whole _WWWWWWHHHAAAAVVVVVEEEEEE_ ball of light wake up would have only happened if I’d put the earrings on?” 

“Correct. Or if someone had put a bracelet on, or pinned a brooch or pin to their clothing, or something along those lines, and if the kwami had not decided to remain hidden for the sake of protection and secrecy.” 

“Oh, that makes sense.” 

“Thus someone could have found the items but never woken the kwamis within simply by never donning the items, or only doing so in a crowded location, or never doing so while insisting the kwami reveal themselves. It is also possible that Papillon struck Paris instead of some other city because he discovered the grimoire and Peacock Pin were here and he was already in possession of the Butterfly Brooch. After all, I sensed that there was… something… in Paris – although I knew not what. That’s why I came here several years ago. It is also possible that Papillon stole the Brooch from the grimoire’s current owner. It is possible that the grimoire’s current owner stole the grimoire and Peacock Pin from Papillon. And of course… it is possible the grimoire’s current owner is Papillon, but there are many other options, all equally likely, if not more likely.” 

That… that did make her feel better. 

“It is important that we discover the owner of this grimoire so that we may narrow down this field of options and discover the truth. But we must be cautious. For Papillon likely searches for it as well – be he the owner or simply trying to discover it – and Papillon is dangerous. We must tread with caution… and you must promise that you will listen to Tikki, and let me help you.” 

…Good feeling was gone. 

“I’ll be very careful, I swear.” 

Master Fu nodded, then glanced up at the clock, and from there he looked to the window. “It is late, it would be best if you left now so that you are home before sunset.” Master Fu smiled kindly. “Perhaps you can come tomorrow so that we can talk more?” 

Marinette started to nod, then paused. “Well… I have a… an apprenticeship thing, to learn tailoring and seamstressing and stuff? Tomorrow morning. But I could come after?” 

Master Fu nodded. “That would work well. Tomorrow I will have my traditional medicine shop open rather than the massage parlor, so please come to that room.” 

Marinette nodded, getting to her feet and dashing off. Time to go home and… try to wrap her head around the enormous mass of information she had just learned. 

… 

This was going to be a long night, and probably an even longer weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
>   
> Look. While it created drama, there was no reason for Tikki to remain silent when Marinette lied to Master Fu/for her to side with Marinette without argument. While Mari doesn’t know Fu, and is panicking over the idea that Adrien might be Papillon… She could have trusted Tikki, and on something this vital, Tikki could have – and should have – spoken up. After all, Fu could have immediately spoken to tell Marinette that he knew it couldn’t be Adrien, even if he couldn’t go into full detail on why, just as he did later in the episode. 
> 
> And on that subject…
> 
> _*snatches the script away from Fu*_
> 
> Look dude, it’s been – at minimum – 150 YEARS since that ‘dire day’. Probably closer to 170 given your apparent age in the memory watercolors ( _15 or so it seems_ ). Yes, they were stolen together, and YES both are in Paris… but why would you ‘always assume’ that they were stolen by the same person and that ‘whoever has it MUST BE PAPILLON’? 
> 
> And more to the point, why would you assume that the person who has them NOW is the person that stole them over a century ago/that they haven’t gone their separate ways in the century and a half of time between then and now? 
> 
>  
> 
> There are SO MANY issues ( _and other options_ ) for this. 
> 
> Issues:
> 
>   * Someone stole all three more than a century ago and apparently never used any of them? Really? We’re really going for that? *sighs* Nearly 2 centuries and they have NEVER been used. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Heck Fu even says he thought the Butterfly had been ‘lost forever’
>   * The fact that someone might have been trying to collect these items is not addressed
>   * The fact that both you and Mari totally drop this important plot point by episode’s end and haven’t brought it up or apparently even THOUGHT about it since. We’re 1/4th of the way through the season, guys!
> 

> 
>   
> Options:
> 
>   * The idea that Papillon might have struck in Paris because he figured out the GRIMOIRE WAS HERE ( _which, let’s be frank, is much more likely when you take the script/audience knowledge away from the characters_ )
>   * The idea that Papillon might have stolen the Butterfly Brooch from whoever had the grimoire ( _again, very likely_ )
> 

> 
> Yes the ‘whoever had this MIGHT be Papillon’ is a valid logic train for Fu, but it should not be his ONLY logic train, nor should it be framed as if it’s the ONLY VIABLE OPTION and that whoever stole the three items is somehow the current Papillon.
> 
>  
> 
> Just. 
> 
> No.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor spoiler for La Befana ( _Talking about Mari’s birthday and age_ )… or to be more accurate… ANTICANON of said spoiler being applied here.

Running always helped.

It let her move and burn the seemingly insane amount of excess energy she had, it was something repetitive that let her mind focus on other things while she sorted things out, it was steady enough to create a pattern to force things into order. 

Marinette had ridden the bus until she got to the 6th arrondissement, then gotten out and started running. She’d had to switch between jogging, running and walking, but she’d found the best way to pace herself so that she didn’t get super winded and could always keep moving and she honestly had it down to a science now. 

Was Adrien Papillon? He’d had the grimoire, and had a mysterious past – always cloistered up before this school year – only seen when doing modeling shoots. And he’d suddenly decided to go to school the very DAY Papillon had appeared. Collège Françoise Dupont had an unusually high number of akumatizations happen compared to the rest of Paris – and Adrien was in a prime location to see people getting emotional and act on it. It made a frightening amount of sense. 

But by that argument, could it be Adrien’s father? 

No, it couldn’t be him! Gabriel Agreste was her role model. She wanted to be like HIM – not only in fashion but in the calm, in control way he acted and ran his company. He was one of the most renowned fashion designers in the world, and the Agreste Company had its hand in casual clothes, perfumes and colognes, formal wear, and even jewelry …Maybe she didn’t want the icy temper he’d shown on occasion, but otherwise… she wanted to be like him. She couldn’t… want to be like a bad guy. Right? 

Marinette switched from a run to a loping walk. She could see the school up ahead now. She was only a few minutes from home. 

There were some points in favor of it though. Gabriel was famous for his refusal to leave his home – the only time Marinette could remember him leaving it had been when Jackady had had his ‘zombies’ drag the man out by sheer force and the time he'd shown up at the school after Madame Mort to take Adrien out of school. He was mysterious, extremely smart but cold and controlled. …but… well, that wasn’t much to go on. Lots of rich people disliked being out in public, and maybe there had been assassination attempts in the past! She knew that there had been kidnapping attempts. That was a really good reason to want to stay safe in his home and to keep Adrien in the house as well. Heck, if he’d had all three items and the Butterfly Brooch had been stolen, even more of a reason to stay safe in his house and keep his emotions under control. …and what if he’d stolen the grimoire and Peacock Pin from Papillon?! It’s what Marinette would have done, and Adrien’s father could have done it as well! Maybe the- 

…The school was open? 

Marinette stopped and stared at the collège in confusion. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. It was quarter till 8. School had let out more than two hours ago, and there were no after-school activities on Fridays. 

And yet despite that, the lights stubbornly remained on. 

“Marinette? Why did you stop running?” 

“The school’s lights are on.” Marinette walked up to the school and cautiously pulled on the front door. 

And it swung open. 

“Be careful, Marinette!” 

Curious, Marinette walked into the central courtyard, looking around carefully, trying to various door and mentally harrumphing when she found most of them locked, peeking into the windows of the classrooms. 

Okay, the rooms were locked like usual, and she couldn’t see anyone, so why was- 

A voice, high in pitch and seemingly in a rage, suddenly came blasting from the direction of principal Damocles office. Marinette couldn’t understand what was being said, but the TONE was more than clear enough… 

And the voice was familiar and easy to place. 

Marinette ran up the stairs and burst into the principal’s office, stumbling to a stop as she found Chloé ranting at the principal and several other members of the staff, tears streaming down Chloé’s face despite her being obviously enraged. Her father stood behind her, silently looming. The other adults all had a rather pole-axed look about them, like they weren’t entirely certain what to do with the current situation. 

EVERYONE spun around to stare at Marinette, who tried to think of a way to defuse the situation before Chloé either got akumatized or got someone ELSE akumatized, and also tried to figure out what was going on. 

“Young Lady, what are you doing barging in here?” Principal Damocles demanded. 

“I… the lights were on and the door was unlocked and I heard shouting and-” 

Chloé, however, just scowled and turned back to the principal and staff, with a scoffed comment that Marinette wasn’t worth her time, which… RUDE! Marinette huffed, cheeks puffing out as she crossed her arms as basically everyone ignored Marinette, focusing instead on Chloé as she ranted. 

It took a bit, but Marinette eventually realized that Chloé had been called by Adrien earlier. Adrien had realized that the grimoire was missing, and that it had likely been lost at the school and apparently had ( _for some reason Marinette couldn’t fathom_ ) called Chloé as he was- 

Adrien was grounded!? Marinette backed up, trying to wrap her mind around the enormity of the situation. Adrien was grounded. His father had taken him out of school. She was never going to get to see or talk to her sweet Adrien agai- 

Wait. Whoa, wait. Back up. 

The reason Adrien was grounded, the reason his father was angry… was because the grimoire was not Adrien’s, but his FATHER’S?! 

_Phew_! 

“What do you mean ‘ _PHEW_!’?!” 

Marinette jumped, squeaking in panic when she saw EVERYONE in the room staring ( _and glaring in Chloé’s case)_ at her. 

Oh darn. Had she said that out loud? 

“… _’Phew’_ because I, er, I – I thought it was something serious, but no!” 

“NO?!” Chloé demanded. 

“It’s true it’s serious, but it could be worse! He could be sick or missing or… anyway, I’m SURE we can fix this! We’re not just gonna sit back and do nothing! Right?!” Oh boy did she wish she could just back out of the room but that wasn’t really an option after she’d burst into the Principal’s office. 

“You know,” one of the staff members suddenly said, looking from the computer on the Principal’s desk to Marinette and then back again. “She was on the recording from the library, it’s possible that she-” 

“Oh, PLEASE,” Chloé snapped, cutting the man off before Marinette could even fully register that the guy had just been offering her up as a sacrificial lamb to Chloé’s wrath. “The video CLEARLY SHOWS that new girl stealing it! Marinette was just being her usual creepy stalker self.” 

…Okay, had she just been saved by Chloé? …was possible rescue worth the insult?! She was not a creepy stalker! …Although, okay, yes she HAD been sneaking around after Adrien and hiding behind bookcases and then book carts and then under the table, so maybe it could look KIIIIINDA bad… 

“Although, it IS interesting that Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng decided to skip the first four classes of the day, show up for lunch and then just wandered off after Mademoiselle Rossi instead of going to PE. Although, I guess we can say that you at least came back for the last two classes of the day, unlike Lila.” 

…Nope. Nevermind. Not rescued. 

“I… was feeling really sick this morning so I stayed home, but I came in to finish the second half of the day, but then I saw Lila steal from Adrien and I tried to follow her to get the book back but I lost track of her so I came back to school and since I couldn’t get the book back I just COULDN’T tell Adrien.” 

Chloé just smirked, then turned to glare at the Principal and staff again. “I don’t care if you’re worried about offending her parents, I don’t care if they’re super special diplomats – if that’s even true! – I don’t care if something like this might make the school look bad! SHE STOLE FROM ADRIEN. He’s grounded FOREVER and he is very rich and very important and if you don’t make that girl come in here RIGHT NOW and EXPLAIN herself and tell us what she did with the book then *I* am not going to attend this school anymore and I’ll make certain EVERYONE IN PARIS KNOWS WHY!” 

Yeeeah, time to retreat. Marinette carefully backed up now that no one was paying attention to her, reaching back with one hand until she found the doorknob. She cracked the door open just enough to slide through – and then she was out of the office and running for home. 

Maman and Papa were worried about her coming home late, it was after all nearly 8pm. Papa would be going to bed in a few minutes so he could get eight hours of sleep. Maman would be going to be an hour or so after that, as she could afford to wake up later. They weren’t super worried of course, especially since Marinette had called them when she’d gotten to Master Fu’s, letting them know she’d gotten to ‘Jane Wren’s workshop’ safely, and she’d called when she’d gotten on the bus as well. Marinette was a big girl now, 15 going on 16, and they knew she’d gone to see Jane Wren in the 7th Arrondissement about getting the parts for a new diary box and Marinette’s quick lie about missing a bus and then the truth about seeing the school lights open and front door open. 

After promising to try not to stay out this late again, Marinette went upstairs and put the geode bowl on her desk, then mentally grumbled and went down to the kitchen with the bowl and filled it with salt, then went back upstairs with it and plunked back on her table before getting changed. She paused for a moment, staring at the new necklace that she’d had hidden under her shirt. “Tikki?” 

“Yes, Marinette?” 

“Should I sleep with the necklace on?” 

Tikki started to answer, then paused, considering. “Well… Papillon can’t make a deal with you while you’re asleep. The way the magic works won’t allow it to take. That’s why there haven’t been any people akumatized while having a nightmare or the like. But…” 

“But?” 

“Well… you sometimes are a little forgetful, especially when you haven’t built up a habit yet. And that means-” 

“That means if I take it off I might forget to put it on in the morning. And it won’t do me any good if it’s at home and I’m at school or something, right?” Marinette asked with a smile. 

Tikki giggled and nodded. “I’m sorry, but yes.” 

“No, it’s okay. One day I’ll get better at it.” 

“I’m sure you will.” Tikki waited until Marinette had pulled her nightshirt on, keeping the necklace underneath the shirt. “Marinette? Why did you say ‘phew’ about what Chloé said about Adrien?” 

Marinette paused in the process of pulling her slacks on, then finished getting changed and climbed up to her bed loft, snuggling into bed before answering Tikki. “Well, because, in the end, the grimoire wasn’t Adrien’s, but his father’s. That means that there is no way Adrien is the Papillon!” she leaned back, flopping against her pillows, hands clasped under her chin. “I knew it… because there isn’t an ounce of badness in him…” 

Marinette blinked when Tikki stayed silent, shifting to look at the crimson kwami, who had an odd expression on her face. 

“What?” 

“Every human has at least a bit of badness in them, Marinette. Just as every human has at least a bit of goodness. Humans are a million shades of grey, that’s just part of having free will. And from the way Chloé was talking about it, Adrien took the grimoire from his father without asking for permission. …and he was willing to call Chloé and turn her loose on the Principal and staff, even though he knows Chloé can be mean, if not cruel.” 

“But, maybe he had a good reason to take it…?” 

And as for Chloé- 

…No, for Chloé, Marinette had nothing. Unless Adrien was far more desperate to get the grimoire back and be allowed to come back to school than Marinette thought possible. 

It was an uncomfortable thought. 

“Which of Master Fu’s theories do you think are the most likely, Tikki?” 

“I don’t know,” Tikki admitted. “There is evidence for all of them. …And Monsieur Agreste has been targeted and controlled by a Champion. Jackady’s troops dragged him from his home, and Jackady used his cards on him… which I’ve never heard of ever happening to a Chosen of the Butterfly Miraculous, so that… probably strikes him off the list of suspects. Maybe we should try to find out where, when, and how he got the grimoire and the Peacock Pin. If nothing else, that should help us figure out if he got the Butterfly Brooch at the same time.” 

Marinette nodded and laid down, and within minutes was asleep. 

Tikki started to reach out to Plagg, then winced as a bolt of pain jolted from temple to temple. Ugh. No, too soon. She’d have to wait a few more hours at least. Nothing for it but to hope for the best and get some sleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Hours later, Marinette woke up to a weird series of muffled pops. Glancing at the clock Marinette groaned and plopped face first back into her pillow ( _uuuugh, it was stupid o’clock. No one in the world should be up this late… or early… something. Even Tikki was still fast asleep_ ). 

Another series of muffled bangs or pops made her open her eyes, blinking at the fabric of her pillow before she dragged herself out of bed and stumbled down the stairs to the main floor of her loft. She wavered for a moment or two, then headed over to the window on her right, shoving the curtains aside to stare at the buildings across the street, sleepily scanning the rooftops and skyline for several minutes. 

Mmph. No visible glow or smoke or any of the other signs she’d come to associate with explosions. She headed over to the port-window and scanned the skyline there as well. 

Nope, still nothing. 

There was a sharp metallic bang, like car doors being slammed to her left. Blinking, Marinette stumbled over to the other window and peered out into the night. No glow on the horizon, and the park was dark and still ( _apparently the lights she’d seen being installed were not installed all the way yet? Maybe they needed to attach power cabling or something_ ). A dark colored van pulled around the corner and drove past, soon vanishing from the night and Marinette groaned as it did so. 

Ugh. Now she knew what she’d heard. Stupid van must have backfired. Grumbling, she pulled the curtains closed and stumbled back up to bed and flopped down, making Tikki bounce on the pillow. 

“mmmph? Marinette?” 

“‘s just a stupid van backfiring. Need sleep. Tailor time tomorrow morning.” 

Tikki blinked a few times, smiling fondly when Marinette managed to fall asleep in a heartbeat. Tikki glanced over at the clock on Marinette’s bookcase. 

Hmmm. She should be able to talk to Plagg now. 

_~Plagg?~_

Huh… nothing? No echo across the bond. Tikki frowned and carefully reached out, feeling for Plagg. 

Oh darn. 

Plagg was out of range for their ability to feel and speak with each other. Which meant Adrien must have already started his plan. 

Tikki sighed. Granted, it wasn’t like she’d been able to come up with any other options to offer. Hopefully, all would go well. 

After all, Adrien was actually very good at long term planning, what was the worst that could happen? 

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

> **NOTES : **( _Which ended up being too big for the end notes block_  
>  _*snatches the script away from Marinette*_
> 
> Look. I’m sorry but her logic train in the canon episode for Gabe=Papillon is EXTREMELY weak. Fu’s logic train at least made some sense, even if you have to ignore 170+ years of NOTHING HAPPENING and other options that make just as much sense for it to work.
> 
> Mari’s logic is basically ‘eccentric rich dude who MAYBE owns the grimoire that never leaves the house and is cold to those around him’. That’s it. That is not a ‘very strong lead’. And the butterflies in the logo also aren’t a strong lead because that’s WHAT AGRESTE MEANS… and he’s obviously had them integrated into logos/designs for YEARS while Papillon has only been active for the last 8 months. If your surname means ‘Greyling Butterfly’ having butterfly logos and designs is not shocking or confusing or any form of a smoking gun. That’d be like pointing at a lady having peacock designs and being all smug and proud of it when her name was ‘Lakshmi Argo-Tavas’. Just. Seriously people.
> 
> This is, sadly, a case of Marinette being handed the script. It gets even worse considering she canonically considers Gabe her role model – her sudden heel-face-turn on that feels out of place as a result. 
> 
> And on top of all that… after Jackady WHY WOULD SHE SUSPECT HIM?  
>  Seriously, Jackady is basically the exact same plan as Collector. There’s a Champion running around, which as far as she knows means Papillon is active/in charge. Gabe is controlled/almost killed. It does basically the same thing as Gabe becoming Collector… or should have. Sadly the script was handed around so characters knew what the audience knew, unfortunately. 
> 
> ~~~~~~
> 
> The reason it’s AFTER SCHOOL/early in the evening is simply because that’s the only way the timeline WORKS. In Volpina, we apparently open up at the tail end of Lunch break, and Adrien goes to his fencing class. Heck, that’s HOW he’s so distracted the Lila is able to steal the grimoire. 
> 
> Lila tells him to meet her after classes… which means either during second break or after school. I have it taking place during second break _(a 15 minute break_ ) and simply have it where Lila and Marinette both skipped PE. After the confrontation, Marinette went back to school for the last two classes of the day, as did Adrien. Lila instead ran to cry her heart out and was akumatized. The fake-out meteor occurred AFTER school ( _as evidenced by Adrien arriving at home_ ) and I head canon Lila waited 2 hours before acting specifically to practice/work with her powers, explaining how exceptionally she handles them for the rest of the episode… which is without a doubt AFTER SCHOOL HOURS… Taking probably less than an hour – things went by FAST that episode as Volpina tried to keep the duo off balance. Marinette took the grimoire to Fu around 6:30pm or so and spent about 45 minutes talking with him. 
> 
> Which means that the random ‘time-travel’ that occurred in the canon episode doesn’t happen here. 
> 
> And yes it is apparently random time travel. 
> 
> Despite Volpina making it VERY clear that Adrien had gone to and finished his fencing class… He suddenly was supposed to be in fencing class – and it was on-going rather than over. School is also apparently just over/ending… which contradicts Adrien arriving at home just before the false-meteor hits/Volpina shows herself. Basically, here be issues. 
> 
> ~~~~~~
> 
> For Chloé not taking the easy route and letting Mari be tossed up as a sacrificial lamb… Basically Chloé tends to accuse those she thinks are ACTUALLY guilty as we saw in Antibug _(and to a degree other episodes)_ and she’s monofocused on Lila at the moment and Marientte is, right now, small fry. Plus targeting Marinette will not get her Lila, and Chloé is aware of the fact that Lila stole the grimoire. …and she needs the GRIMOIRE to get Adrien ungrounded/back to school. 
> 
> And yes, Adrien called CHLOÉ for help. He considers her his friend and this is one situation where Chloé’s personality and behaviors are the best option. She is incredibly focused and more than willing to do whatever it takes for whatever she wants… and this is one case where what Chloé wants lines up with what Adrien wants. Alya and Nino wouldn’t have been able to get this – confronting the Principal and getting answers dragged out/Lila brought in – to happen. Oh, they likely could have solved the situation, but it would have taken longer and Adrien is on a time limit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I wrote this before La Befana aired, and with Animan ( _where Marinette implies that she is a Leo_ ) and multiple points in Season 1 make it clear that the cast is in troisième, most obviously when Alix is stated to be turning 15, and even more obviously when Alya STATES THAT THEY ARE IN TROISIÈME IN **_THE PHARAOH_** … I’ve had Marinette be 15 in my series this whole time… because the kids in troisième are supposed to be 14-15, with their 15th birthday falling before or during the school year.
> 
> Since Mari was ( _seemingly flat out_ ) shown to be a Leo, that put her birthday before the school year, making her 15 and a month or so older than Adrien ( _who very obviously has a September birthday)_
> 
> The catch is that in La Befana, Marinette is celebrating her FOURTEENTH birthday… meaning she was 13 for all of season 1… which…
> 
> Sorry, for me that is a NO. There are many reasons why I consider it a ‘no’ but many of them can be summed up as she is the average height with her classmates, behaves like she’s 14/15, and while I was okay with a 14-going-on-15 or 15-going-on-16 year old running around saving Paris… I am not okay with a 13-going-on-14 year old.  
> Call me an old woman, but I’ve got some lines in the sand and that is one of them. Even Usagi is 14-going-on-15. Most examples of the heroes being younger than that have them BEING under 14/15 be a matter that is addressed and they’re usually written/drawn to show that they’re younger. ( _Look at W.I.T.C.H. for a really good example of this_ )
> 
> So. Anticanon. Marinette’s birthday is in late August, she was 15 all of Season 1 and will celebrate her 16h Birthday this coming August ( _remember, it’s mid-May in my fics right now AND I have it where due to all the Akuma attacks Paris is requiring mandatory summer school for July-August rather than having an actual summer break_ ). Which, yes, means I’m taking Befana and moving it from one of the earliest Season 2 episodes and moving it to late Season 2… likely making it one of the last episodes. Due to all the people we see getting turned into angels or coal, that actually sorts out the issue of ‘other heroes’ and them not getting involved – letting me put this episode where-ever I wish ^_^


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, quick bit of (probably) anticanon that shows up in the fix-it fic for Volpina that is discussed in this chapter. Check out the end-notes for more^^
> 
> As always, a reminder that I saw the Korean dub of Origins more than 6 months before seeing any other dubs and thus Nooroo is ‘female’ in my mind and thus in my fics (I just got used to female Nooroo after over half a year of it and male seems ‘off’ as a result ^^)

“Master, this plan…. I do not-”

Nooroo’s master looked up from his computer and turned to look at Nooroo. “You do not understand?” 

Nooroo was silent for a moment, trying to think of how to voice her thoughts. “I understand what you plan to do, but not why you plan to do it. And… it is dangerous, my Master, in ways I think YOU do not understand.” 

For a second rage flared in her Master’s eyes, his jaw clenching and hands fisting. 

Then it stopped, as suddenly as it had come. He took a slow breath in, closing his eyes and visibly forcing himself to calm down, to get back under control. Nooroo waited, used to both her Master’s temper and how quickly he could return to icy control. 

He took another deep breath, then opened his eyes. “Then let us discuss matters rationally and concisely. Come here, please.” 

Nooroo nodded and flew over to sit on the computer monitor. 

“Now. Your concerns?” 

Alright, most important factors first. No matter what her opinions on the matter were, she was bound to loyalty, tasked to give her all in aiding and protecting her master. Even if it meant protecting him from himself. 

“I don’t think you have… fully thought out the ramifications of akumatizing yourself, Master.” 

Again the flash of anger, and again the icy control was regained. “Explain.” 

Nooroo slicked her wings back and fussed with the tails on her hindwings, gathering her courage. “There are many dangers and problems, Master. First is that while you have proven that you can charge an Akuma and have it lie in wait with Sans Sheriff, and thus can charge the Akuma, have it wait until you de-transform and then have it possess an item… There were oddities from Sans Sheriff that might have hailed from having the akuma wait. Oddities that we cannot predict the full fall-out of. Tied to this is a two-fold problem. …You have exceptional control of your emotions, Master.” 

“Hm. I do have a temper, and am certainly… emotional enough about the matter to attract an akuma to a talisman of my choosing.” 

“Yes, but it is… a veneer. While your emotions are real, they are not emotions that strike and shake the core, and that will impact both the strength of your abilities and your access and use of them. Tied to this, while your control of your emotions means that you will not fall deep… you WILL still enter the dream-state – and I do not think you realize how this will impact your plan or actions.” 

“How so?” 

“You are angry at Adrien.” 

“With reason.” 

“In the dream-state – no matter how mild the dream-state is – you will threaten him. You will target him. You will attempt to ‘collect’ him.” 

“I would NEVER-” 

“You will. He is the source of your anger.” 

“You seem certain, an oddity given your prior statements that – much like charging an akuma to have it lie in wait – no Chosen of the Butterfly Miraculous has attempted what I intend.” 

“While none of my Chosen have attempted to akumatize themselves, I know – better than any mortal ever could – how my akuma work. How the dream-state works. How talismans and triggering events and the source of the strong emotions will become a focal point.” 

He leaned back, considering this information. 

“Why do you plan to do this, Master?” 

“Because I have no choice, Ladybug and Chat Noir likely suspect-” 

“Why would they?” 

Her Master’s mouth clicked shut, as surprised at the question as he was at Nooroo daring to interrupt him. 

“You know who took the grimoire from Adrien. What your Champion knows, you know. Their memories, thoughts and emotions are yours to pursue. You know that Lila saw Adrien and became fascinated by him and decided to play her game and catch him, a task she did not succeed in. You have… already discovered that Ladybug has a certain admiration for Adrien, if not an infatuation.” Nooroo shrugged. “Ladybug likely had seen or heard about Lila’s lie about their friendship in the interview on the Ladyblog, and she likely was trying to find and confront Lila already… when she saw Lila flirting with Adrien…” 

Her Master nodded. “Thus explaining her unusual aggression. …However, the fact remains that she might have noticed Lila losing the book and might even have been the one to steal it.” 

“This is true. However, even if that is the case, it is only a possibility that they will discover you are Papillon. Not a certainty, indeed all the less so after your gamble paid off with Jackady. Why would they suspect you after that? Is it not the same plan as that which you intend to attempt now?” 

“Hmm. A valid point. …I already planned to delay until tomorrow afternoon so that I could have as large an… audience… as was needed. Seeing if I have any unexpected visits from Ladybug and Chat Noir prior to this – either directly or by them observing from a distance – will be no significant hardship. …I must admit, Lila’s spell and it’s uses are… fascinating. While I will need to exercise caution, I may well strike up an alliance with her again in the future.” 

“That… actually brings me to my final point, Master.” 

“Oh?” 

“The Butterfly Miraculous requires an alliance. In order for someone to be akumatized, a deal must be offered and accepted. This is a rule that cannot be broken, no matter who – or how – my Miraculous is used. And even if that were not the case… You would have no one to keep you on task, or prevent you from doing something you would later regret. And once the deal was done – a deal that is so vague it likely could never be fulfilled – there would be no one to recall the akuma, leaving you trapped. Akumatized for all time, even after your death.” 

“…” 

Nooroo shrugged helplessly. “A deal MUST be brokered. An offer made, and terms agreed upon. To do that, the Chosen of the Butterfly Miraculous MUST be transformed so that the terms of a deal may be offered and agreed upon. Otherwise the akuma will simply leave the item and return to me rather than creating a talisman.” 

Her Master sighed and took off his glasses, then pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. “Nooroo, if there was no possible way for me to do this, why did you not START with this fact?” 

“Because the other points were equally important and needed to be addressed. I am your loyal ally, I must aid you and protect you… even from yourself if I must.” 

Blue eyes snapped opened and her Master stared at her, surprised, for several minutes before he smiled faintly. “Then I thank you for your concern and candor.” 

“And...” 

“And?” 

“As you know, Kwamis can sense when another kwami first transforms someone, as doing so generates a bond between the human and the kwami.” There was no reason to tell him that kwamis could SUPPRESS that surge of power if they so chose, preventing others from realizing that a new bond had been created. Her Master seemed unaware of that detail, and – at least for now – refraining from telling him worked to her advantage. Both for protecting him from himself and protecting HERSELF from this dangerous plan. 

“Yes, that is how I knew that the Black Cat and Ladybug Miraculi had been put to use and my plan was worki-” he broke off sharply, then sighed. “I see. Another factor that negates the use of my plan. Were I to have someone else use the Miraculous temporarily-” 

“Or even if you were to renounce me temporarily as you planned.” 

“The Ladybug and Black Cat kwamis, and any other who are awake and active in the world, would sense the new bond, or would sense the rekindled bond that formed after the temporary renouncement. Which would completely undo the point of this endeavor, as it would PROVE that I am Papillon rather than throwing them off my trail. Damn and blast.” 

“I am sorry, Master.” 

He offered a noncommittal noise and stood up, walking over to the door before turning back and holding his jacket open in a silent order… or perhaps invitation, Nooroo simply was not sure what to make of it. To be honest she wasn’t sure what to make of her Master most of the time. She left her place on the monitor and flew to tuck herself into the interior pocket her Master had sewn into his jacket specifically for her as he opened the door and stepped out of the room. He’d even included mini-pockets within the pocket – each one the perfect size for a 5ml micro-shot energy drinks, so that she could recharge or enjoy them when she pleased. 

Gabriel Agreste closed the door to the master bedroom and let his breath out slowly, hands clenching for a brief moment before he got himself back under control. This changed… everything. 

Hands clasped behind his back, he stalked down the entresol, passing the old grandfather clock in it’s pride of place in the west corner of the entresol. Blast. Damn and blast. What had seemed the perfect plan had fallen through. Now he would have to wait and hope that suspicion did not fall on him, that the risky plan with Jackady had been enough. There were no positives he could see to this mess. 

He paused by the left-hand door to Adrien’s room, listening to Adrien practice the piano within, nodding to Adrien’s bodyguard, who quietly stood guard at the midpoint between the two doors. 

He couldn’t help the faint smile he got at the sounds of the practice. Right-hand notes just a hair louder and harsher as Adrien’s dominant hand hit just that little bit harder, left-hand notes just a hair off as Adrien caught the edge of other keys as he played. 

So much like Emilie. No slamming of hands on the keys, no smashing out of random notes, but the intense emotions still made themselves abundantly clear to anyone who knew them. 

_‘You will threaten him. You will target him. You will attempt to ‘collect’ him.’_

Gabriel’s hands clenched behind his back. No. No, there was one positive. Adrien had been protected from Gabriel’s hubris. That was worth the risk and complications that Gabriel now faced. 

Another crisp nod to M. Chaplin and Gabriel walked down the stairs and to his atelier. 

Natalie glanced up as he entered. “Ah, Monsieur Agreste. The sketchbook you requested should be arriving early tomorrow morning.” 

“Very good. Unfortunately, I have become aware of… logistical issues in the initial plan that must result in its termination.” 

Natalie blinked. “Do you… wish for me to cancel the order?” 

“For a purchase as small as this, there is no reason, and perhaps I will find use of it and sudden cancelation might draw attention I would prefer to avoid.” 

“Very… well… sir. May I ask what you intend to do?” 

“Wait. Plan. And make use of the next opportunity presented to me. I have lost two valuable resources, and one vital matter remains unsolved at this junction. Caution and careful work are the only viable paths before us.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

> ** Notes: **
> 
> _*snatches the script away from Gabriel_  
>  Nooroo’s points to Gabe are all valid arguments, and issues I have with the canon episode. Why would Gabe think they suspect him?  
>  No seriously. He has NO REASON to think that LB/CN have any idea about the grimoire or its significance. He maybe, MAYBE thinks Adrien could be CN, but that’s currently up in the air and further more, thanks to Lila, he KNOWS what happened to the grimoire. He knows Lila stole it from Adrien, he knows that (in this version) she lost it and in canon tossed it. Yes, Ladybug showed up but it was apparently just to yell at Lila for the lies she’d been spreading. There is ZERO reason for Gabe to assume anyone suspects him and, AGAIN, Jackady is basically what the Collector is. He was captured and controlled by Jackady, why would anyone outside of the audience suspect him after that?  
>  This is literally just ‘Like Marinette, Gabe read the script’  
>  Thus, Gabe DOES NOT akumatize himself. There is no Collector. I mean it’s an awesome episode but the fact that it ONLY can happen due to characters reading the script undercuts it once you actually LOOK at it.  
>  …Also, Chat’s reaction to ‘a butterfly’ is… Dude your surname MEANS Greyling Butterfly, or at least is the latin name of it. …Also that logo has obviously been in use for more than a year, which mean it predates Papillon. You shouldn’t be having horror and Tangled flashbacks you should be going ‘ _But.. that’s what Agreste means… the logos been a butterfly shape and butterflys worked into stuff for.. YEARS’_
> 
> Granted it all culminates in the fact that with the rules I’ve established in previous fics, the plan can’t work at all XD 
> 
> A deal MUST be brokered and agreed to ( _To be honest, I thought this was canon until Collector, given how Papillon ALWAYS offers up a deal when he akuma lands – and nothing happens until the person AGREES TO the deal_ )… which means Papillon must be transformed/powered up so that he can speak to/make the deal with his potential Champions… 
> 
> Which means there is no way to self-akumatize himself. 
> 
> And further-more ( _in what I ALSO THOUGHT was something that was actually CANON but apparently doesn’t apply for Collector?!_ ) I have it where all kwamis can sense when a kwami transforms a human for the first time, as that sparks/creates a bond between the kwami and the human/Chosen. That is how Wayzz discovered that Nooroo was back in action, AND how Papillon knew that both Plagg AND Tikki were back in action before Ladybug showed up to fight/only Chat Noir had shown up. 
> 
> Which means when Gabe revokes/breaks his connection with Nooroo, the next time he transforms ALL ACTIVE KWAMI ARE GONNA KNOW ABOUT IT, which would COMPLETELY undo the point of his plan. I added in a ‘if the kwami focuses/works really hard they can keep others from sensing the bond being created’ as a loophole – as all magic has a loophole, that’s just how magic WORKS… but I also figured there would be no reason for Nooroo to do that, and every reason for her to NOT do that, esp after she made no effort to hide the initial bond created between herself and Gabe. 
> 
> I also disliked that Gabe would be willing, indeed apparently INTENDING, to chase after/threaten Adrien. That moment seemed COMPLETELY OOC of Gabriel, and thus the quick moment where I established that he didn’t realize that once akumatized he WOULD have targeted his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The anticanon about Lila from the opening notes… is that Marinette was actually right on the money about Lila. She DID ensorcel the school. Marinette and Adrien actually lucked out by missing the first half of the school day as they were not present when Lila cast the initial spell. Mostly I wanted a reason for why EVERYONE seems to have fallen for Lila’s lies – no matter how outlandish, and no matter how OOC it was to believe without questioning. I also wanted to introduce non-kwami related magic.  
> Also… Adrien is naive and trusting but he isn’t an idiot. It’s OOC of him to hear Lila trot out ‘I’m totes a Miraculous user’ and BELIEVE her.  
> Alya is hyper focused on Ladybug/Ladyblog, but it was OOC for her to believe Lila’s lie about being besties with LB and to completely ignore Mari because her blog was getting a lot of hits.  
> Heck, even Mari’s little ‘ramble vision’ is a bit OOC as she seems to temporarily believe Lila’s lies AND reduces Adrien to a vapid prize that Lila will steal away from Marinette and so on ( _Her angry rant at Lila as Ladybug one could argue there was a mild influence there as well_ ).  
> I dislike that basically EVERY character had to have the idiot-ball duct-taped to their hands for this plot to work. Enscorcellment at least gives a reason instead of undercutting them all.  
> Note that this does not mean Lila is ‘evil’, it simply adds an edge and power to her lies. Whatever her canon reason for said lies are remains the same.  
> After all, I HATE black-and-white mentality and characters. Lila, like everyone else, is a shade of grey and I plan on delving into her character… I just need her to actually SHOW UP in the show again so I have more to work with ( _seriously, 9 episodes and Lila has not even been NAMED, has not shown up. What the HECK is going on, show? You’re seriously making me think my ‘spell’ headcanon might be TRUE_ )
> 
> The spell is pervasive, but not exceptionally strong. Basically, those influenced by it trend towards believing Lila’s lies/not questioning or thinking about them with a faint level of ‘fascination’ and ‘default to liking/wanting to like/wanting to help’ in Lila’s favor.
> 
> There are four aspects of the spell.
> 
>   * The first ( _and strongest _) is when it is first cast – a sphere of ‘influence’ about 12 meters/39.4 feet in diameter. The spell is at its strongest and can even ensorcell spirits, ghosts, and ‘bound’ gods like kwamis. This aspect of the spell lasts for about an hour, where anyone who enters her sphere of influence will have the full impact of the spell catch them.__
>   * __The second stage is the spell’s ‘holding’ duration. Those who enter Lila’s sphere of influence will have a ( _far more mild_ ) version of the ensorcellment occur. They’re less likely than they usually would be to question Lila’s lies, trend towards wanting to like/help Lila out, etc. This aspect of the spell lasts 24 hours ( _exactly_ ) after the spell is initially cast.__
>   * __The third is that recordings of Lila act as relays/weak recastings of the spell. Anyone who watches a video will have a mild version of the spell cast on them. That’s actually a big chunk of her logic in doing the interview for Alya – a lie that was much more likely than normal to be caught out than her usual. This aspect will remain on anyone who sees it for as long as the spell is active.__
>   * __The fourth ( _and weakest_ ) is that Lila can turn the ‘focus’ of the spell onto a single person or small group so long as she can maintain eye contact and remains focused/on target. It creates a version of the spell/impacts a person about half as strongly as the first/initial aspect… but it’s main weakness is that eye contact must be maintained.__
> 

> 
> __  
> _This spell is not all powerful or flawless, of course. If someone is not present for the 1 hour initial casting getting jarred out of it is easy and they’re MUCH more likely to note flaws and oddities. Once someone is jarred out of the spell they are, basically, immune to the spell ( _although if it is recast it can/will catch them again__ )  
> IF someone is naturally distrusting they won’t be caught as easily, even by the initial casting.  
> If someone gets angry or the like the strong emotions can jar them out of it and staying worked up emotionally can KEEP THEM out of it. Etc.
> 
>  
> 
> __  
> _Tied to this… Lila used her ensorcellment to her advantage. She snuck to the roof of the Louvre and recast her spell so that the people who would see the false-meteor strike and see her claim the victory would be caught in the strongest aspect of the spell… which since it lasts for a full hour – LB and Chat were caught in this strongest aspect as well… explaining THEIR odd behavior and not questioning the re-use of Volpina until forcibly jarred from the narrative._  
> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick anticanon. The grand piano seen in Collector has been in Adrien’s room this whole time =_=  
> It’s just easier that way, and makes as much sense as the foosball table, off-sized ‘half-pipe’ and other ‘what even’ elements and even fills in the weird super open area of Adrien’s room without ‘getting the way’. I also ended up applying some OTHER anticanon to the layout of Adrien’s room while I was at it. ( _for one thing the giant bookcases on the raised sections contains BOOKS. No CDs/DVDs. Good lord why would have have THAT MANY CDs or DVDs? Just let the kid have a ‘mini’ library gosh darn it_ ). Picture of the layout in the end notes^^

“You can’t be serious!” Plagg hissed.

Adrien glanced up from where he was adding a careful selection of primer, concealer, foundation, face powder, blush, contour, highlight, bronzer, setting powder and lipstick out from his primary modeling set into a small backpack. “I’m serious, Plagg.” 

“Can’t you wait just… three more hours!? I can’t talk to Tikki yet!” 

“Just because you two haven’t come up with a plan yet doesn’t mean I have to wait on getting MY plan started,” Adrien said, jaw tight as he carefully pulled the two items Plagg had stolen for Adrien last night out from where he’d hidden them amongst the towels, putting them in the bag before zipping it up. “You heard what Chloé said when she called. Lila stole the book from me in the library. When Principal Damocles had her brought in, she said someone must’ve stolen it out of her bag in or near the park.” 

Adrien sighed and got to his feet. He shucked his over-shirt off and pulled the small backpack on, then got it as flat as possible. He pulled the over-shirt back on, shifting and twisting in front of the mirror to make certain that the backpack was as close to unnoticeable as possible. “Which might be a lie, but it might not. She had it when she bought the fake Fox Miraculous, ‘cause she compared it to the one in the book. So it hadda be lost somewhere between the store and the park.” He walked out of the bathroom and went to check his iPod and its speaker box that he’d stuck on top of his piano. 

Good. Enough music for a good two hours or so. The odds of his father or Natalie or the Gorilla looking in for more than a glance were low. 

Still. Better safe than sorry. 

Adrien went back to the bathroom and dug through the cabinets until he found the towels that were close to his skin tone, the old cheap wig that was close to his hair color that he kept hidden away, as well as a spare pillow and a handful of his normal towels as well. He carried them over to the bed, rolling and folding them into a shape that was as close to ‘sleeping fifteen-year-old boy’ as possible: one ‘flesh-toned’ towel balled up and the wig stuck on it, another rolled up and made to look like Adrien’s arm on the pillow. The pillow and other towels made his torso and limbs before he pulled the covers up and over it. 

There. That would hold up to most scrutiny, as long as no one came all the way in and tried to wake him up. 

Plagg was staring between the bed and Adrien with respect in his eyes. “I love the fact that I didn’t have to teach you how to do this. …How did you get all this stuff anyway? …And how often did you pull this stunt before you met me?” 

“Bunch of times,” Adrien admitted. “When I wanted to be able to go do a sleep-over at Chloé’s or just get out of the house for a while. Chloé bought me the towels that are about my skin tone a few years ago and the wig year before last.” 

Plagg’s expression went from pleased to annoyed as he watched Adrien move around the room, checking everything. “I can’t believe you’re doing this stupid plan. Especially after I said you shouldn’t!” 

“We need to throw Papillon off my trail, Plagg. I came up with a plan, and you even admitted it’ll work!” 

“It MIGHT work, I said! And that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a stupid plan!” 

“You have another option yet?” 

Plagg scowled, growling deep in his chest as his tail lashed. “I am older than the written word. I have seen a lot of really stupid plans in my time! And I’m telling you this is probably the stupidest plan to ever exist in the history of stupid plans!! And some of those plans included people throwing themselves into lava!” 

“Fine, then we’ll just use your plan. Oh wait, you don’t have one,” Adrien snapped. …then he paused, wincing. He closed his eyes and blew his breath out in a gust before turning to look at Plagg. “Sorry. I just… I’m stressed out, I’m worried, but I shouldn’t take it out on you. I apologize.” 

Plagg was quiet for moment, before he groaned and rolled his eyes. “Fine. I still think you should just WAIT. Tikki and I’ll come up with a better plan, you just need t’ wait till we can talk for a bit!” 

Adrien shook his head. “No, it’s gotta be started tonight. I mean I have to go tonight to try to get the book from wherever Lila lost it or tossed it, and it might already be too late. And… well, might as well get my plan started NOW.” 

Plagg groaned, sinking several inches in the air. “Fiiiiiiiiiiiiine. But you have to get it done fast. Like hi-bye before you sleep in your bed again.” 

“Plagg we can’t do it tonight.” 

“Fine. Tomorrow…” Plagg paused. No, wait. It couldn’t be in the morning could it? The plan ( _stupid as it was_ ) would work best if Ladybug showed up alongside Chat Noir, and that meant… “…afternoon. Late afternoon. Tikki said something a few days ago about the buglet having stuff to do tomorrow morning and a key factor of your plan won’t be available till late afternoon anyway.” 

“That should work,” Adrien said with a relieved smile. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and put in the information Chloé had sent him about jewelry store Lila had bought her necklace at, then used his phone’s map to plot out Lila’s most likely path to the park. Once he got the plan set up and in motion, he could follow her path to try and find the book before coming home. 

Plagg flew over to the sofa and pulled the Peacock Pin out from between the cushions. No way was he leaving it where it could be so easily found. He grabbed an empty camembert container and wedged the Peacock Pin into it, then slapped the lid on. 

There. Perfect. 

Holding the container to his chest, Plagg flew over to Adrien and tucked himself into his usual pocket. 

Adrien blinked and started to glance down at Plagg, then groaned. “Oh no, Plagg, did you leave a mess AGAIN?” He headed over to the couch and looked over the back, groaning when he saw the piles of wrappers, containers and cheese crumbs. 

“Plaaaaagg, everyone knows I can’t stand camembert. That’s why I have to buy your cheese with my allowance and sneak it in!” Grumbling, Adrien dug through his drawers to find and grab a few ziplock baggies. He pawed through the other items he kept in the drawer. Things that he needed to eventually throw out that he could stick bags of camembert into to keep it from being noticed. Hmmmmmm… Ah! Here, an old shirt that had gotten accidently splashed with bleach. Perfect. 

A few minutes’ work to stuff all the bits and bobs into bags and close them up, then wrap the whole mess up in the ruined shirt, and that was stuffed into a garbage basket. 

That matter solved, Adrien pulled his phone out of his pocket again to double check the time and the map. That matter sorted, he went over to the window and grabbed the edge of the open pane, hoisting himself smoothly up to crouch there. 

“What are you doing?” Plagg demanded, poking his head out of Adrien’s pocket. 

“…Leaving the house?” 

“Why aren’t you transforming?!” 

“Because I’m grounded.” 

“…Adrien, your father grounding you does not ‘ground’ you from being Chat Noir. You do know that, right?” 

Adrien surprised Plagg with a laugh. “I know, but the thing is if I disappear with no evidence, that’s gonna be more suspicious. We have security cameras set up around the perimeter of the mansion, but none of them cover anything higher than street level – why would they? So I’ll just get out the way I used to so that I’ll show up on the cameras so that Père won’t ask awkward questions like ‘How did you get out of your room without landing on the street’.” 

Plagg started to open his mouth, then yelped, holding onto the edge of Adrien’s pocket for dear life with one paw, the container with the Peacock Pin gripped with the other, as Adrien proceeded to parkour his way down the side of the mansion to land in a rolling tumble on the sidewalk. 

He came up smoothly into a jog and headed down the street, making a few turns until he trailed to a stop, looking around to confirm that there was no one in sight before he ducked down an alley. A quick transformation later, and Chat Noir leapt over the rooftops of Paris with all the stealth he could muster. 

The plan was now in motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	7. Chapter 7

Marinette woke bright and early… although she could not be called bright eyed and bushy tailed by any stretch of the imagination. Tikki watched Marinette stumble and groan and grumble her way through brushing her hair, washing her face, brushing her teeth, putting on make-up and getting dressed, and decided to help her Chosen out by making the bed for her.

She reached out for Plagg and groaned as she realized that while Plagg was in range, he was currently powering Chat Noir’s Miraculous, meaning that she couldn’t talk to him. Tikki finished pulling the sheet and blanket into place and flew down to grab the duvet and pull it up. She felt the sense of ‘Plagg’ slowly swing away to the south and soon after that lost track of him as he passed out of range. 

The bed made, Tikki flew down to see how Marinette was getting on, and was surprised to see her finishing up and pulling her ballet slippers on. 

Marinette offered a smile to Tikki, amused at the kwami’s surprise. “I may hate mornings, but I CAN manage them… sometimes. Kinda. Sorta. Almost.” 

Tikki giggled and followed Marinette as she smiled and yawned her way down to the kitchen. Both of her parents were already downstairs, after all, so there was no need for the kwami to hide, Maman would be minding the till as the bakery was likely open to the public by now, and Papa would be baking in the back. Well, that did at least mean that she wouldn’t get side-eyed for buttering her croissants as she liked to do. 

Marinette grabbed three of yesterday’s croissants and some chocolate chip cookies from the pantry, butter and honey off the counter, a bowl out of the cabinet – while Tikki grabbed a greek yogurt and a baggie of peach slices from the fridge – and took the whole mess ( _plus a paring knife, butter knife and spoon_ ) over to the kitchen table. Yawning massively, Marinette decided to forgo hot chocolate this morning. She went over and got the coffee pot and brought it over to the table, filling the bowl halfway, then added just enough milk to turn the coffee a dark blonde. The coffee pot was put back in its place and the milk stuck back in the fridge and Marinette plopped down at the table, grabbing the paring knife and cutting the three or so pear slices into small chunks while Tikki got the greek yogurt container open for her. 

The peach chunks were added to the yogurt and Marinette took a heaping spoonful of honey and added that as well before stirring the whole mess together. The croissants were cut in half and buttered and Marinette sat down to enjoy her breakfast, pulling out her phone to check her email and other notifications as she dunked her croissants in the coffee and ate the yogurt. Meanwhile Tikki happily munched her way through a plateful of cookies. 

Alya had apparently found out about Adrien being grounded for life ( _probably from Nino? Although, thinking about it, Alya had started befriending Adrien after Madame Mort so it was possible that Adrien had told her as well as Nino_ ) and wanted to make certain that Marinette knew and, if she did, that Mari knew that Adrien apparently had a plan that… might? …get him ungrounded. Marinette felt a little bit hurt that Adrien hadn’t contacted her but had contacted Nino, maybe Alya and definitely Chloé… but… well, she still had trouble talking with him and they didn’t even know each other’s phone numbers – erm, officially at least – so it didn’t hurt as much as it could have. 

Once breakfast was finished, Marinette cleaned up, putting a baggie with a few cookies in her purse before she went downstairs. She told Sabine of her plans to go to Trocadéro and spend the day working on some designs after she finished this first ‘Tailor Time’, spending the day enjoying the city. Not her actual plan of course, but she could hardly tell her mom about how she was going to go meet up with a old man nearly 200 years old to learn about tiny chibi gods and magical jewelry. 

Sabine accepted the lie, and after showing that her phone was fully charged ( _and not forgotten but safely tucked into her purse_ ), Marinette left, humming happily as she headed for the Homobonus’ Tailor and Seamstress shop. 

Today was going to be a good day. 

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“I just – what if it’s a cover up!?” 

“Kim…” 

“What if Adrien ran away and old man Agreste wants to cover it up!?” 

“Kim!” 

“What if Adrien didn’t run away, what if his dad traded him to some spirit in exchange for his dead wife to be returned from beyond the grave or what if Adrien was kidnapped agai-” 

“KIM!!” 

Kim paused in mid-word, mouth hanging open as he stared at Alix, who rubbed her temples while Ivan and Mylène laughed quietly. 

“Okay, to start. Adrien was NOT KIDNAPPED last Christmas. And you telling everyone that he had been just freaked a LOT of people out and gave most of us freaking HEART ATTACKS! There is no ‘again’ when it didn’t even happen the first time!” 

Kim winced at that. “Sorry.” 

“And Adrien’s mom isn’t dead, Kim,” Mylène put in softly. “She’s missing, and the way Adrien talks about her, I think she’s assumed alive just… I think maybe she was in another country and just disappeared or maybe was even kidnapped or something. …and if that’s the case – saying she’s dead might be ill-wishing.” 

Kim’s whole body got in on the wince at THAT, and he nervously tugged on a leather cord hanging around his neck, pulling a black jade amulet out from under his hoodie to run his thumb over it. “Oh geez, yeah it would be wouldn’t it.” 

“What’s that, Kim?” Mylène asked, curious. 

Kim glanced down, then smiled and held it out for Mylène to see that the black jade was carved into the shape of a tiger. “It’s a good luck amulet. My mom got it for me after that mess with Tailor. Apparently, she saw the mess go down on TV and that combined with the whole Dislocœur thing made her decide that I needed ‘all the help I can get’.” 

“Well, that’s probably true,” Ivan said with a smile. 

“Oh, ha ha,” Kim said, rolling his eyes as he stuffed the amulet back under his shirt. “But getting back to the actual subject…” Kim sighed and waved at himself, Ivan, Alix and from there the rest of the lacrosse team in the courtyard. “Look, Adrien wasn’t the best player in the universe, it’s not like it’s essential to the team, but he was decent enough and he’s a nice guy and it’d be nice to have him playing with us. Do you think we could maybe, I dunno, help him out?” 

“Well, we could probably try?” Alix shrugged. “Anyone know why he got pulled out?” 

“No,” Ivan admitted. “But we could ask Nino, he probably knows, since Adrien’s his best friend.” 

“I can call him and ask while you finish practice,” Mylène offered. “Then we can try to figure out how to help after? Maybe?” 

“Sounds like a plan to me. You guys all cool with it?” Kim asked. After getting nods all around, Kim tilted his head. “I’m thinking that we could maybe go bug Max for help in… whatever the heck went down. I mean he’s got that over the top supercomputer at his place that he’s been working on since last year. And… well, super computer. That’s gotta be useful, right? I mean it’s like XANA, or Deep Winter and Endless Summer, or KITT, or Dragon, or JARVIS, or C Cube, or GLaDOS, or-” 

“His dad let him keep that thing?” Alix asked, surprised. “Geez, I thought for sure he’d be forced to disassemble it after that mess with the ‘Pineapple’ fiasco.” 

“Nah, apparently his dad got such a kick out of that mess that he even bough Max two more towers to add to the mess.” 

“Wait, what are we talking about here?” Ivan asked, confused. 

“Max is trying to make a super computer,” Kim explained. “Like actual Star Trek type stuff. He’s been at it for over a year. He’s got like 8 full sized tower computers all wired and cobbled and hooked together. It takes up like a quarter of his room.” 

“…Why?” Mylène asked, baffled. 

“Why not?” Alix laughed. “Super computers are cool.” 

Mylène opened her mouth, blinked, then closed it with a little smile and shrug. “Good point.” 

Kim gave Mylène a little salute then headed back to practice, Alix keeping pace. Ivan gave Mylène a quick hug and kiss before following. 

Mylène smiled, watching Ivan for a minute before pulling out her phone and scrolling through her contacts until she found Nino and hitting call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kim’s good luck amulet is based off one that a friend of mine ( _Dũng_ ) has. He, like Kim, is Vietnamese and tends to get into a bit of trouble more often than not, so his mom got him an amulet carved with the animal of his birth year/Vietnamese zodiac to try and stave off SOME of the nonsense Dũng gets himself into. As I’m using Dũng’s home-life to add detail to Kim to a small degree I figured that this little bit could carry over as well. It’s a Tiger because I’ve got the fics set in the school year of 2013-2014 and the kids are canonically in troisième/the 4th year of collège which means they’re all 14-15 with their 15th birthday falling before or during the school year… Which puts all of their birth years as 1998 or 1999 depending on the month they fall on. And a Tiger just fit Kim’s personality SO PERFECTLY.
> 
> ~~~~~~
> 
> Yeah, so I was ALREADY planning on having Max to be working on a super computer to rival ‘The Attack Beast’ for quite a while. Indeed that’s why I introduced the ‘over powered computer loving referred to by the student body as Attack Beast’ in TTSS. 
> 
> Then Robustus happened. 
> 
> And… look, Markov is adorable, but doesn’t WORK on any level. To start, this is not the 80s, no one is going to believe that you can put all the programming and software required for a SENTIENT ROBOT THAT CAN PASS THE TURING TEST on a single processor chip. The main limit on robots at the moment is trying to get the needed hardware to support the INSANELY COMPLEX software small enough that it can move around while still having it be smart… and while some robots have come close, thus far nothing has passed the Turing Test. 
> 
> Added in this complication is that Markov’s body is barely big enough for the engine/etc needed for the arm and propeller and the needed fuel tank ( _the little LED screen face would also be pulling off the power provided by the engine, btw_ ). PLUS the issue of engines generating tons of heat as a basic side effect of existing which is so VERY BAD for a CPU. Having insulation around it and venting it to the open air and putting a good fan ( _And maybe mini CPU cooling system_ ) could counter it, but would take up even MORE space. 
> 
> What it boils down to is that the only way Markov works is if the robot that we SEE is actually just a remote/wifi controlled DRONE and the ‘real’ Markov is a super computer in Max’s home. That lets the ‘mind’ ( _ie computer_ ) be as big and complex as it needs to be, and even explains the little comment Markov has of adding the arm himself, something that didn’t make much sense when Markov was just the little ‘cute’ version because HOW could he have added the arm himself without some type of limb initially? 
> 
> Thus the little drone has a very VERY basic CPU, and a REALLY good wifi set-up. The CPU is just robust enough to control the engine and gears and screen and such and let the wifi work. ‘Markov’ is back in Max’s room controlling it remotely. 
> 
> Yes, this would create several changes to the canon episode ( _both minor and major_ ) BUT given the fact that I honestly don’t like the ‘anything electronic can suddenly FLY and what-have-you and other kinda rushed elements of the episode I don’t view that as a bad thing. 
> 
> …Yes, this does mean that just as I did/am doing fix-it fics for season 1, I will be doing fix-it fics for season 2… at the very least for episodes that do NOT show up directly in my own fics as Collector did. …Joy or rage as you so choose ^_^


	8. Chapter 8

Tikki glanced up from where she was hidden in Marinette’s purse, giggling as she watched Marinette mutter and mumble, trying to practice the basting stitch that she’d spent the morning learning at the Homobonus’ shop while she sat on an out of the way corner of the bench within sight of the bus station that she would be using to get to Master Fu’s. She’d already missed the first bus, so she’d decided to try and get the basting stitch down while she waited for the next bus to arrive.

Marinette had spent the morning – not down with the customers – but instead upstairs, where Russi had done a positively viciously detailed and rigorous test of Marinette’s skills and knowledge. 

It had been something of a shock for Marinette to find out that her skills with the needle were only considered baseline in the world of the professional. Apparently, it took five YEARS of dedicated training on average to be considered a master level seamstress or tailor, and that only for stitch work, the measuring of clients and the marking and use of patterns. Cutting, designing patterns and the minutiae of figuring out what was wrong with something in a fitting could take a further three years, if not longer. 

Russi had, however, been impressed with Marinette’s embroidery skills and had decided that… at least in stitch work, Marinette didn’t have any bad habits to unlearn. 

She had however been quietly appalled at Marinette’s description of how she’d made the bowler hat for the competition from scratch for some reason. Thom has promised to explain exactly why later, offering to take her to his uncle’s hatter shop the next time Marinette came for ‘Tailor Time’ and Marinette had agreed, if only so that she would find out the whys and wherefores of the looks she’d gotten. 

But for now, Marinette sat with several scraps of cloth, a tiny handful of pins and some bright, almost neon, pink thread – working on the basting stitch, the tailor’s equivalent of a tack weld. 

There were, apparently, several ways that basting saved time in the long run and were far superior to pins. It let you test the fitting ( _And let the person wearing it move without fear of getting pricked or the pins shifting or falling out of place_ ), it held slippery fabrics together to make it easier to sew and the stitches were easy to remove if the fabric DID slip out of place before you did the proper stitch work, it let you do things like add and hold zippers in place, and could basically turn one ( _or more_ ) layers of fabric into a ‘single’ layer of fabric. 

Marinette held up her current attempt, and groaned when she saw how sloppy it was. 

She glanced over towards the bus station, but the bus was not in sight, so there was no reprieve there. 

Huffing, she dumped the two scraps on top of the growing pile by her feet and grabbed a second set of two scraps from out of her backpack and went through the instructions again. 

“Pin the area together as you would to sew the area… Thread the needle and knot the thread,” she muttered. “Place the knot on the edge of the fabric where it won’t be sewn over by the finishing stitching.” She went to do the first stitch, then froze. “No, no, DON’T baste exactly where you’ll be sewing, that’ll make it hard to remove later and can weaken the final stitching.” 

Alright, now… nice, even, but quick and easy running stitch. 

Tongue sticking out, Marinette tried to get this simple, yet somehow still tricky, skill down. 

Tikki considered her Chosen, then closed her eyes. _~Plagg?~_

_~I hate this plan. Afternoon, Tikki. I hate this plan. Sorry about not being in range earlier. This is the worst plan to have ever been planned. Why did the kid have to come up with this? It’s such a stupid plan. Why couldn’t we come up with an alternative? I hate this plan.~_

Tikki blinked. _~Afternoon. I’m sorry I couldn’t come up with an alternative in time.~_

_~Not your fault. I couldn’t either. We pretty much forgot to ask Wayzz thanks to the whole Spy and lost Charm thing. You’ll keep the buglet from going off to do her own thing, right? Things are risky enough right now.~_

_~I will. What exactly IS this plan of Adrien’s?~_

Plagg groaned. ~ _Oh, you’re gonna LOVE this…~_

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Nino and Alya got off the bus and walked towards Le Grande Paris, and Nino had to spin around fast, just managing to catch Nathanaël when the rouget overstepped and fell out of the bus behind him. The box of manga Nathanaël had been carrying falling out of his hands to hit the sidewalk, the volumes scattering out over the cement. Alya stuffed her phone into her pocket and went to grab the manga and put it back in the box while Nino helped Nathanaël get back to his feet and settled. 

“Oh geez, you okay, Nath?!” 

Nathanaël groaned and managed to get his feet under him then stood, rubbing his shin with a wince. “Nothing bruised but my pride… and my shins… and my knees… and elbow… and – my manga!” 

Both Nino and Alya laughed at that. 

“Don’t worry, I got all of them. At least I think I did.” Alya picked up the box and offered it to Nathanaël. “Ten issues, right?” 

Nathanaël nodded, holding the box close and checking the manga quickly, breathing a soft sigh of relief when he saw that they all looked okay, no damage or mud smears or anything else. 

“Why’d you bring those?” Nino asked as the three walked across the roundabout towards the hotel. 

“I finished reading them, so I need to return them.” 

Alya stumbled half a stride. “Return… wait, who’d you borrow them from?” 

“Chloé,” Nathanaël admitted. 

“…CHLOÉ?” 

Nathanaël shrugged. “Last Friday, during Foreign Language 2… Adrien, Chloé and I had a kinda okay conversation? Then Adrien invited me to lunch and I almost said no, but well… ANIME DISCUSSION and he did this puppy dog eye thing and I said yes… then Chloé found out I hadn’t read the Yugioh manga and insisted I read them, and she leant me the Dragon Ball manga I was missing cause I let her read my Miraculous Mini Manga and it was WEIRD, okay? …Also, I saw that video you posted about the Spy, Alya… I, uh, might have run headlong into him. Literally.” 

“You WHAT?!” 

“Uh… Ran into Spy. Literally. Like I was looking over my shoulder, running and WHAM. Headlong into a guy in a white tux.” 

Nino met Alya’s eyes over Nathanaël’s head. “So where was this?” 

“Chloé’s room. I forgot the manga she leant me and went to get it and…. Well, he said he was a cleaner and I believed him?” Nathanaël shrugged. “Most akumatized look… not normal… and don’t ACT normal. So when he said that and just helped me up and opened the door for me, I thought he was telling the truth.” 

Alya winced. Hopefully Nathanaël wouldn’t wonder why Spy had been there. The trio nodded to the doorman as he opened the door for them and they headed into the hotel and straight for the elevators, where they found Juleka and the hotel’s head butler waiting for them. 

The ride up was quiet, all four of the kids shifting nervously before Juleka turned to Nathanaël. 

“So did you have a good chobit?” 

Nathanaël blinked, opened his mouth, closed it and blinked again, then finally looked up at Juleka. “Chobit?” 

“You said that’s why we couldn’t meet in the morning? Chobit. Did you have a nice one? Is it a special holiday or something?” 

Nathanaël’s mouth moved for a moment or two before his expression cleared, just as the elevator doors opened. “Wait, are you asking about Shabbat?” 

“Uh…” Juleka frowned as they followed the Butler towards Chloé’s room. “Yeeeeees? I guess?” 

“Shabbat’s just the day of rest. Seventh day of the week and stuff. Main ‘celebration’ is from sunset till about a half hour after – supposed to be when the first three stars can be seen in the sky but… uh. Paris. Lots of lights. I also go to the synagogue in the morning after I wake up.” He shrugged and then frowned down at the box he was carrying. “Technically I’m not supposed to carry anything between private and public domains, or more then four cubits but since Chloé lives here I think it counts as from private to private so it’s OKAY… And while we’re working it’s not one of the types of work we’re REALLY not supposed to do so it’s grey area.” 

“…Seriously?” 

Nathanaël nodded with another shrug. 

“…Hey, what’s a cubit?” Nino asked as the butler opened the door to Chloé’s room and bowed them all in. Chloé was sitting out on the balcony, flipping through a Naruto manga and munching chocolates from a nice looking spread of food and drinks set up out there. 

“Length from your elbow to fingertip. Uhhhh. Like about 526.5 milimeters on average.” 

Nino did the math in his head as he and Alya sat down on the second couch, Juleka sat down on the chair and Nathanaël, after a moments hesitation, sat down on the couch that Chloé was sitting on. 

“Wait, so you can’t carry something more than two meters!?” 

“Basically.” 

Chloé looked up from her manga with a poleaxed expression and looked from Nino to Nathanaël and back again. “He what?” 

“He has the manga he borrowed and is returning it,” Nathanaël said, rather than going into the whole thing again, putting the box down by Chloé. 

Who glanced at it, then waved a hand. “Keep it. I was going to buy a new set anyway, there’s this nice set with alternative cover art that I’ve been wanting and that just gives me the perfect excuse to get it.” 

“I… wait, I can keep it?” 

Chloé shrugged, putting the Naruto manga off to the side and reached for the box. “I can chuck it in the trash now if you don’t want it.” 

Nathanaël snatched the box of manga back up and held it to his chest protectively. “No! Nope! It’s fine!” 

Juleka surprised them with a chuckle, then leaned forward to grab a bottle of water. “So. Let’s get started. I’ve got a program that can manage about 100 ‘animals’ and then about 100 ‘items’ in the time we’ve got. So let’s choose what Charges to use.” 

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_~You’ll have him send the message as soon as he’s done with all the stuff he’s got lined up?~_

_~Yup.~_

_~Did you test that the-~_

_~Yes. Worked perfectly. Not the first time we’ve used this trick after all, even if it’s usually part of a smarter plan then THIS.~_

_~Sorry, had to check.~_

_~No, I get it. …Talk to you later, Tikki~_

_~Talk to you later, Plagg.~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I base Nath’s comments, and his ‘okay I THINK I can carry this around’ mentality off my family. Most of them are very traditional, especially about Shabbat and the traditions tied to it, and know most of the reasons WHY, and how those traditions/laws work… so I had it carry over to Nath here.
> 
> And Sami, my IRL friend who I use to round Juleka out a bit, did make the mistake of calling Shabbat ‘chobit’ for a bit simply due to not hearing it very often.


	9. Chapter 9

“-but he was controlled by Jackady, so Gabriel Agreste can’t be the Papillon, don’t you think?”

Master Fu ran a hand over his goatee, considering quietly as he poured Marinette a cup of tea. “It is unlikely. I have never heard of a holder of the Butterfly Miraculous being controlled by one of their Champions…. Wayzz, do you know if Papillon must be transformed in order for an akumatized to remain transformed?” 

The music ( _provided by Wayzz running on the label of the record to make it spin so that the needle – and from there the phonograph horn – could work_ ) cut off sharply as Wayzz looked up, lost his balance flopped onto the record and went spinning around. He managed to jump over the needle-arm once, but wasn’t so lucky the second time and ended up wedged under it for a moment, eyes wide. 

Tikki giggled and left her place in the horn and flew over to lift the arm up, freeing Wayzz. The two kwamis flew over to sit on their Chosens’ shoulders. Wayzz cleared his throat and looked from Marinette to Fu before closing his eyes, frowning in thought. 

“I do not recall such an event ever occurring, although it is possible it might have happened at some point while I was not aware. However, I do know with certainty that the Chosen of the Butterfly Miraculous does not need to remain transformed for an Akuma to retain its charge or for someone akumatized to remain empowered.” 

Master Fu nodded. “So, it does not clear Monsieur Agreste of suspicion, however it does not strengthen any of the other possibilities either. We are left, essentially, where we started. Tell me, how did you find out who was the owner of the grimoire?” 

“I was heading home, and saw that the school’s lights were on, and the front door was open, so I went in to check and…” Marinette flailed her hands for a moment. “Well, Chloé was there – ugh – but apparently Adrien called her because he figured out the grimoire was stolen but I didn’t know that at first, I just though Chloé was being CHLOÉ and evil like usual but for once she wasn’t and while I was there Chloé mentioned that the book was Adrien’s father’s book, so I left and isn’t it wonderful that it can’t be Adrien?!” 

“This still leaves the question. Why did you think Adrien was the current owner of the grimoire?” 

“Because… because I saw him with the grimoire at school, and then Lila came and stole it. Tikki said we had to get the grimoire so I skipped PE and we followed Lila to the park, where Tikki stole the grimoire from Lila’s bag and-” 

“You were scared the boy you have a crush on could be Papillon,” Fu said with a knowing smile. 

“WHAAAAA-?!” Marinette gasped and gaped and flailed. “NO! How did you know?! I-I mean, I don’t have a crush on him! I mean-” 

Master Fu chuckled and tilted his head. 

“Alright. Alright, it was because I just… My Adrien CAN’T be Papillon. He’s amazing! I can’t bear the idea of him being a supervillain!” Marinette sighed and slumped. “But now… now Adrien won’t ever be able to come back to school because I won’t be able to give him the grimoire back, and I won’t ever see him again, ever!!” Marinette wailed and flopped to lie on her side on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. 

Master Fu raised his eyebrows, caught a trifle off-guard by the dramatics, glad that he had insisted that they go up to the loft apartment that he rented at the top of the building, rather than having this conversation in the crowded Traditional Medicine shop, or even in his Massage Parlor. If nothing else, there was an empty floor between them and the lobby, granting them an extra level of privacy. 

“Can’t we give the grimoire back to Monsieur Agreste?” Marinette asked miserably. “He probably isn’t Papillon, and if we give it back Adrien will be ungrounded and able to go back to school and-” 

“Sadly, we can not.” 

Marinette’s eyes popped open and she aimed a mournful look at Master Fu. 

“As I told you, the grimoire is filled with spells and history of the Miraculi and those that crafted and protected them. …Or what little history remains, given all that has occurred over the centuries. It is far more than anyone – mortal or god, spirit or ghost or any mix there-of – could ever hope to remember. Indeed, that is why all this information was encoded in these pages.” 

Marinette groaned, curling up a bit tighter. This wasn’t going at ALL like she’d wanted it to! “But, couldn’t we just… take pictures of the pages? I mean there’s so little written on each page, a picture should work…” 

“There is more to these pages than meets the eye, Marinette,” Master Fu said softly. “Some things can only be revealed by a person’s aura. Others by cold. Others by heat. Still others only under the light of the moon or the sun on a certain day. While there are indicators on each page as to what is hidden and how to access it, and thus I could potentially take pictures of each page and it’s variants… I would need time to do so. A year at minimum, quite likely longer. And even then, there is old magic in this tome, magic that keeps time and damage at bay. Magic that is best kept away from curious hands and minds.” 

“But if we give the book back Adrien-” 

“While it is unlikely that Monsieur Agreste is the Papillon, the chance – however small – that he is remains, and to give this resource back when there is even the slightest chance would be a danger that we can not risk, for good of Paris, if not the world.” 

Marinette looked to Tikki for aid, but the crimson kwami shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, Marinette, but Master Fu is right. It’s a risk we can’t take.” 

Marinette sighed. That… was true. But it wasn’t what she WANTED, didn’t what she want count for anything? 

“You could tell him about Lila stealing it from Adrien, and that you lost track of her just after the jewelry store,” Tikki offered. “That way he’ll know that it is at least not fully Adrien’s fault. Maybe that will be enough for him to be allowed to come to school again.” 

Marinette blinked, sitting up slowly as she considered that. “That… might work. It’s worth trying at least. And at least then I’ll be able to say I tried.” 

And Marinette knew that she had… very good luck now. Almost supernaturally good. Maybe she’d get lucky and- 

Tikki gave a sudden small jump. “Oh!” 

“Tikki?” 

“Chat Noir is trying to call you. Probably about his plan.” 

“Plan? What plan?” 

Tikki opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning. “I… can’t go into much detail. But Chat got an idea for how to throw Papillon off his trail.” 

Oh, that made sense, given how Chat had been so stressed, and so worried that Papillon suspected his civilian identity ( _true or not, he was convinced that it was_ ). But talking to him would probably be for the best, if nothing else she really had to fill him in on the grimoire and her suspicions ( _and the multiple theories_ ) about Gabriel Agreste. “Could we ask him to come here?” 

Tikki shook her head. “Plagg will be bringing him soon enough and… there is another reason that it’s best Chat Noir doesn’t know until his kwami decides to tell him.” 

Looking around, Marinette stood up and walked over to one of the walls where it was mostly clear. “Can I take the picture down so Chat won’t see it when I talk to him?” “Of course you may,” Master Fu said, standing up and walking over to take the painting from Marinette as she took it off the wall, walking over to lean it out of the way as Marinette transformed. 

Ladybug stood in front of the wall and pulled her yoyo off her hip when it rang. She smiled when she saw Chat’s icon and clicked on it, and the screen cleared almost instantly to show Chat Noir standing in front of a brick wall. “Hello, Chat, what’s…” 

She trailed to a stop, frowning. Something was… wrong. Chat looked off in a way she couldn’t place, his whole frame stiff with his cat-ears flicking. “Chat, are you okay?” 

Chat opened his mouth, then closed it, ears going flat to his head. #“I’m okay, just… I’m… uh- How do I… it…”# he grabbed his bangs with one hand, hand clenching tight before he let go, slumping before he sighed. #“I’m… not myself today. Sorry. Can’t really explain because secret identities and stupid plans and stuff.”# 

Ladybug lifted both eyebrows. “If the plan is stupid, why are we doing it?” 

#“Because it’s too late to stop it now. Like, way too late. So best option is get this done.”# 

“…Well, that’s not reassuring at all… Okay, what IS this ‘stupid plan’?” 

#“I’m going to interact with a few different people very publicly while my civilian self is ‘known’-“# Chat raised one hand to make an air quote. #“and ‘can be seen’ to be somewhere.”# 

Ladybug frowned, glancing up to meet Master Fu and Wayzz’s eyes before she looked back to her yoyo screen. “How is THAT possible?” 

Chat Noir shrugged. #“I can’t explain, ‘cause of secrets and stuff. Plus, I kinda promised.”# 

Ladybug huffed. “Fiiiine. What’s step one of Stupid Plan?” 

#“Go to the Agreste mansion to check up on Adrien. …I mean SEVERAL people saw Volpina kidnapping ‘Adrien’ and holding him off the Eiffel Tower… Plus, Adrien’s my friend and he got grounded because – uh, well… So, he took a book from his dad, but then Lila stole it in the library and then she lost it.”# 

Ladybug gulped. “Uh, how do you know who stole it and where?” 

#“…Ummm. So Adrien called in Chloé instead of me or Alya… or Nino… for some reason. The plus side of it is Chloé apparently made a lot of headway and even got to see the school security footage. The problem is, I can’t exactly go to talk to Monsieur Agreste about this because that raises issues about HOW I know this. Buuuuut.”# 

“But?” 

#“Adrien said that, according to Chloé, Marinette was in the library and saw Lila steal the book… and Marinette apparently said that she followed Lila but lost track of her.”# 

Ladybug only just managed to swallow a squeak. 

#“So, I was thinking that we could maybe swing by and pick up Marinette and let her tell Monsieur Agreste about it. Maybe that’ll be enough… or at least help.”# 

Ladybug flailed. “Uh, oh w-well…” 

Think think think THINK!! 

Oh! 

“Actually, this might be the best time for a distribution of resources! Lila probably lost the book in the park near- near the school where I confronted her. So, I can go there, then follow Lila’s trail and see if I can find the grimoire. You can pick up m- Marinette and take her to the Agreste Mansion, so Marinette won’t get ignored at the gate, and that will sort things out as best as we’re able.” 

Chat Noir blinked a few times, then slowly nodded. #“That… should work. I’ll head for Marinette’s house, see if she’d be willing to help out. I’ll call you if she isn’t so we can come up with another plan?”# 

“Sounds good, Chat. See you soon!” 

Ugh. Why had she said that? 

Ladybug closed the yoyo and sighed. “Tikki, de-transform me.” 

Marinette groaned and scrubbed at her face as Tikki flew over to eat some of the almond cookies Fu had put out for her. “Uugggh, I don’t even know what this plan IS and I already hate it!” 

Oh wait. 

Oh NO! 

“AUGH! Tikki, we have to go!” Marinette ran and grabbed her backpack and slung it on, grabbing her purse with one hand and dumping the plate of cookies into her purse, Tikki falling in alongside them with a squeak. 

“Marinette? What is-” 

“My parents think I’m at Trocadero! They’ll tell Chat that’s where I am and he’ll go to find me and I have to actually BE THERE to be found!” Marinette hauled her phone out of her pocket and pulled up the bus schedules and then the metro. “AUUUGH, everything is too slow!” 

Tikki ( _covered in crumbs and chunks of almond cookies_ ) flew out of Marinette’s purse, wedging two cookies into her mouth in one go. “Noh ihf youh transfohrm!” 

“Oh, Tikki, you’re wonderful! Transform me!”


	10. Chapter 10

“-and I’d gone into the library to get some books for my project on English when I saw Adrien looking through the book and I couldn’t see much, only that it had pictures…” Marinette took a deep breath in. So far she’d stuck to the truth ( _or as close as she could_ ), but now it was time to switch to the story she’d come up with that she figured would be the best way to go to get Adrien forgiven and maybe just… test the waters and confirm or joss some of the theories she, Fu and the kwamis had about Monsieur Agreste. “So, when Adrien put the book down and went away, I wanted to look at it. I thought maybe it was a portfolio with pictures of him…” She couldn’t help the small sigh that escaped her at that. Imagine if it HAD been a modeling portfolio. All those pictures of him, the ones that were put in magazines and the ones that weren’t that nobody but the professionals of the world would have seen… “He’s such an awesome model!!”

There was a soft, but still sharp, clearing of a throat. 

Marinette opened her eyes and found Gabriel, Natalie and even Chat Noir staring at her with flat looks. 

Oh boy. 

“Erm, but that’s nothing new to you.” 

The flat looks of the two adults became very unamused stares. 

Ohhhhhhh boy. Beside her, Chat Noir shifted his weight, tail lashing as his jaw clenched, although he stayed quiet, letting Marinette talk. 

“When he came back, I was scared he’d see me and I panicked and dropped the book and hid under the table. …but this new girl in school, she saw the book and slid it back so Adrien wouldn’t realize it was gone… then when he left for fencing practice, she took it and left school.” 

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed sharply, and Marinette decided to take that as a good sign. 

“So I… followed her. To try and make her give the book back! But then, I-” Marinette dropped her gaze to the floor. “Then I lost track of her. She went into a jewelry store – Bijouterie Catherine Philomène M – and I went in too but I… I turned around and she suddenly wasn’t in there. So I ran outside but I didn’t see her anywhere.” A lie to protect her identity and theft… and now back to the truth. “So I went back to school for the rest of classes. I… I COULDN’T tell Adrien. Not when I couldn’t give him the book back – with how I lost track of Lila…” 

“I see,” Gabriel said flatly. “You’re one of his admirers.” 

Alright, that was NOT the point she’d expected him to pick up on. If the odd sound Chat had just made was any indication, it wasn’t what he’d expected either. But… well, it was the truth, and she could work with that. 

“An admirer, yeah, we can say that, sir.” A sudden, horrifying thought occurred to her, and she glanced up at Gabriel. “You won’t tell him, right?” 

Gabriel shook his head slightly, and Marinette breathed a soft sigh of relief. She glanced at Chat Noir, then looked back to M. Agreste. “You’ll let Adrien come back to school?” 

Chat’s tail froze mid lash. Actually, everything about him seemed to freeze, as silently hopeful as Marinette as Gabriel considered. 

He finally leaned back slightly, closing his eyes. “Since HE is not the one who lost my book, but you and this other girl who stole it… then, yes. I’ll allow him to return to school.” 

Chat Noir unfroze and breathed a gusting sigh of relief as Marinette danced in place before getting herself back under control. 

Chat’s left cat ear suddenly twitched, then he took a step forward. “Maybe Adrien could be told the good news?” 

Both Gabriel and Natalie stared at the black clad hero, as if surprised, before Gabriel slowly raised his eyebrows. “I… suppose so. Natalie, if you would be so kind?” 

“Of course, Monsieur Agreste.” 

Marinette watched Natalie head up the stairs, then frowned, thinking fast. Hmm. She wouldn’t really have time or a place to ask this ever again. “Can I ask you something?” 

Gabriel nodded, expressionless. 

“I admit I looked through the book, and… it really was amazing! All those illustrations of legendary superheroes are really, erm…” – oh. what to say, what to SAY – “Really inspiring! And I was hoping that… could you…” …this was harder then it should be. 

It was Chat that was throwing her off. Acting so subtly OFF, the way he was standing so still, yet his tail kept lashing and ears kept swinging back to pin back against his hair. 

That darn cat. 

“Where did you find it? I’d love to buy a copy for my own inspiration.” 

“I found it during a trip with my wife in another country, I’ve never seen another cop-” 

“Adrien is gone!” 

“WHAT?!” three voices demanded at once. 

“Adrien is not in his room, and the window is open!” Natalie said, coming down the stairs in a rush. 

“Wha- but… He HAS to be there!” 

Everyone turned to stare at Chat Noir, surprised at his outburst. Chat, for his part, stuttered and flailed his arms for a moment before he suddenly blinked and seemed to catch himself, cat-ears flicking out before swinging forward again. “If he isn’t there… maybe he snuck out to try and find the book himself? He knew how important it was to you after all.” 

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed, but he finally turned to look at Natalie and gave her a crisp nod. Natalie headed into the atelier, Gabriel following. Chat Noir went alongside, jaw set and tail lashing, and Marinette just kept pace with her partner, hoping that no one would bar her entrance or turn her aside. 

Fortunately, no one said anything and Marinette was able to stand beside Chat Noir as Natalie sat down at her office desk and pulled up what seemed to be video feed from security cameras that covered the exterior ( _ground level_ ) of the mansion. Natalie typed something, most likely a time-code, in, and the cameras cut to night time. For a few minutes, nothing happened… and then Adrien suddenly dropped into the camera’s pick-up, parkouring down the side of the mansion to land in a rolling tumble on the street, coming up smoothly onto his feet and then jogging out of sight. 

Wasn’t Adrien’s room more than two stories up in the air!? How had… how could he have… what EVEN was… 

Gabriel sighed. “Again. What does it take to have him stay where he is safe?” 

“Probably more than anyone can th-” Chat broke off sharply, wincing. He sighed softly, tail starting to lash again. “Adrien must have figured out that Lila stole the book from him and dumped it somewhere, so he must’ve decided to trace her path after… after she left the school with the book.” 

“Hmm.” Gabriel stepped closer to the desk and reached over to type a number into the phone-intercom on Natalie’s desk. There was a minute or two of silence, then a soft clicking chime. “My apologies for calling you when you are off-duty, Monsieur Chaplin, however it has come to my attention that my son has snuck out of his room – and the mansion. If you could please come to my atelier so that I can give you a list of his likely intended destinations so that you could go retrieve him I would be most grateful.” 

There was a rough grunting sound that went up in octave as it finished in a vague ‘yes’ sort of way, then there was another click. 

Gabriel straightened up and clasped his hands behind his back, becoming eerily still and silent as he waited. Natalie typed at the computer, switching from the security footage to documents of some sort. Marinette fidgeted and tried not to pace, wishing she could step outside the room and go somewhere she could talk to Tikki, but she didn’t want to risk leaving for fear that she would not be allowed to return if she drew attention to herself. She wished she had someone to ask who ‘M. Chaplin’ was, but there was no one. Chat Noir, unfettered by the rules and norms due to his ‘superhero’ status, paced the length of the atelier wildly, muttering under his breath as his tail lashed, cat-ears pinned flat to his hair. 

All four of them looked up when the door opened and Adrien’s bodyguard walked in, pausing a few steps into the room and taking the situation in with raised eyebrows. 

Waaaaaaaait. So Adrien’s bodyguard had a name? He was M. Chaplin? Or were they still waiting for him to show up and it was just coincidence that- 

“Ah, Monsieur Chaplin, thank you for coming so quickly.” 

Okay, not coincidence. 

“It seems that my son snuck out of the house in the early hours of the morning, possibly to try and find or retrieve the missing book. I’d like you-” 

“I’ll come too.” 

Gabriel’s eyes flicked over to Chat Noir, who just met his gaze silently, as if daring him to argue. Gabriel raised one eyebrow, then returned his attention to the bodyguard. 

“Adrien apparently decided to try to retrieve the book himself, most likely by following the path of mademoiselle Rossi. It likely would be best for you to start at Square René Viviani and work your way back towards-” 

“Why Square René Viviani?” Marinette asked, then squeaked and covered her mouth when all eyes went to her. So much for letting them forget that a ‘ordinary civilian’ was present. 

“Ladybug had a very public and vocal confrontation with mademoiselle Rossi there, and that is likely where – or near to where – she was akumatized,” Gabriel pointed out brusquely. “As you followed Lila for a fair amount of time before losing her at Bijouterie Catherine Philomène M the park is the most likely place the book would have been lost.” 

Chat gave his head a little tilt, acknowledging that silently. 

Faster than Marinette could follow, the general plan of action and route was decided, and the bodyguard and Chat Noir were out the door and gone, and Marinette found herself standing on the sidewalk as the gates clanged shut behind her, watching Adrien’s limo drive away without her in it. 

Marinette offered a huffing sigh and started walking away from the Agreste Mansion towards home. Now that she knew that there were security cameras covering the entire ground-level perimeter of the house, it was likely best to not do anything to draw suspicion. 

As she came up on Pont au Change, her purse clicked open and Tikki poked her head out. “What you did for Adrien was very brave.” 

Marinette smiled down at her kwami. “Thank you, Tikki.” She looked back up and, once she was across the bridge, headed towards the Post Office. Its underground parking garage usually had a few areas where there were few, if any, people to be seen, and Tikki could sort out any security cameras. “What really matters is that Adrien can go out again. …what do you think about what Monsieur Agreste was saying, about the book?” 

“Well, it does seem that he is the one that found the book originally, so that does seem to take the option that he stole it from Papillon out of the equation. I wish we could have asked him more.” 

To be honest, it really was for the best that Marinette hadn’t been invited to ride in the limo to get home. ‘Ladybug’ had told Chat she would be following Adrien’s trail to try to find the grimoire, it probably would be best to show up for a little bit so Chat wouldn’t get suspicious. ( _And maybe she could be the one to tell Adrien that he was no longer grounded! That would be amazing!!_ ) 

But still… she had gotten Adrien ungrounded, she’d gotten more information on the book and most importantly, she’d done all of it without revealing anything suspicious! 

It was nice to finally be ahead of the game. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It seemed that it was probably for the best that he had digitized the book. Gabriel scrolled through the various image files as he thought things over. 

The girl, Marinette, had lied to him. 

What his akumatized knew, he knew. What they remembered, so too did he. He knew exactly how the theft of his book had occurred, knew that the jewelry store had been almost empty when Lila had gone in… 

The girl had lied. 

The only question was why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bijouterie Catherine Philomène M ( _13 Quai de la Tournelle, 75005 Paris, France_ ) is essentially the only jewelry store within a reasonable distance from the collège and the park near Marinette’s home. It even looks pretty much identical to the one seen in the episode, so it works very well.
> 
> Also, I know the show brushes it aside/ignores it, and treats the scene like Marinette is getting a good solid lead of information at the end of Collector… the issue is that canonically what his akumatized know PAPILLON knows. He’s consistently shown to have solid knowledge of what led up to them being in a state of mind that got them akumatized, and often even semi-unrelated information.  
> Which means HE KNOWS Lila stole the book.  
> Which means he knows Marinette lied to him. And that is likely going to come back to bite her in the ass.


	11. Chapter 11

Ladybug swung and landed on top of the carousel, relieved to see that she’d apparently managed to beat the Agreste limo to the park. ( _Ah, there were certainly advantages of being able to travel the way the crow flies_ ). She looked around the park, humming softly to herself as she considered it all. No Adrien in sight. Which made sense, after all Adrien had apparently snuck out sometime in the early am hours to try and find the book. Why would he still be at the park? Or the jewelry store?

Maybe he’d found out where the garbage was taken to from this park and was there. 

Or maybe he’d decided the book was lost forever and didn’t want to risk sneaking back into his room and had gone to Nino’s to sleep over and was, even now, heading for home as he was searched for. 

Ladybug smiled when she saw the limo pull up and into a parking space, Chat Noir getting out of the back as the driver got out of the front. She leapt off the carousel to land beside Chat once they walked into the park. 

“Good afternoon, Chaton.” 

Chat jumped slightly, apparently having been distracted looking around, like he thought Adrien was hanging out on one of the benches or behind a bush or the like. “Oh, Ladybug, uh. So, did you see Adrien? When you were backtracking him?” 

The top of Ladybug’s mask rose, following the eyebrows they covered. “No. …Are you okay, Minou?” 

Chat’s ears went flat to the top of his head. “No. Not really, no.” 

Okay, Ladybug’s ‘things are bad’ meter had just gone into the red big time. “What’s wrong?” 

“I… I can’t say. Like literally I can’t explain what’s wrong right now for so many reasons but the main one is I’m not even sure how what seems to be happening could be happening and I can’t explain THAT either and it really sucks.” 

“Okay. …You know I’m here for you and can help you if you need it, right?” 

Chat offered a weak smile. “Yeah.” 

The bodyguard offered a sudden grumbling sound and walked to the center of the park, frowning. Chat Noir and Ladybug followed in his wake, watching curiously as he examined some of the bushes around the outer edge of the central clearing, ducking to one knee to examine them carefully. 

“So, I’m thinking maybe Adrien didn’t have a way to get back into his room after-” 

WHOOPS, careful, Ladybug couldn’t know what Marinette knew 

“…well, however he left the Mansion.” Ladybug glanced at the bushes M. Chaplin was looking at. “So maybe he went to stay at a friend’s house after he found the book, or even if he didn’t. He’s best friends with Nino, and-” 

Wait. 

Ladybug frowned and leaned forward to examine the bushes as Chat said something about none of this making sense. 

There were two or three hand sized patches of bare branches. 

It was early May; the branches should be covered in dense leaves. The bushes nearby ( _most of them_ ) certainly were. She reached up and rubbed her fingers over the branches of the bush. 

Not brittle, no film or aphids or diseased leaves clinging to the branches. It was perfectly healthy wood and stem… or mostly healthy, as many of the smaller and more delicate branches were snapped and hanging all over. 

So, what had stripped the leaves off, and broken the bitty baby branches, but left the bush otherwise unharmed? And- 

Ladybug watched as the Gorilla reached into the bush and pulled out a handful of pearlescent grey feathers, holding them close to his face and examining them with a deep frown. She blinked and looked at the decidedly not sneezing Chat Noir, then looked back to the feathers. “Why are there fake feathers stuck in a stripped bush?” 

The bodyguard tapped the pointer and middle finger of his right hand to his thumb sharply, then brushed the tip of his nose with his right pointer finger. 

“Uhhhhh?” 

“He said ‘They’re not fake’,” Chat offered. 

Ladybug blinked and looked from the feathers, to Chat, to the feathers and then back to Chat again. “They have to be fake though, you aren’t sneezing.” 

“Huh? …Oh! Oh, uh, well, usually yeah but, you see…” Chat blinked a few times, then offered a lopsided smile. “Magic Benadryl?” 

Both Ladybug and M. Chaplin leaned back and turned to look at Chat Noir. M. Chaplin put the feathers down and pinched the fingers of both hands on empty air before flicking his fingers wide like he was sprinkling flour on a table, then he tapped his nose and put the tips of his pointer fingers together before pulling them apart, then put his right middle finger on the palm of his right hand ( _other fingers sticking up_ ) and rocked his right hand back and forth. 

“Yup. Magic Benadryl. TOTALLY a thing.” 

Augh, was that what had been signed? This was worse than hearing half a phone conversation. She could SEE the part of the conversation she was ‘missing’. Ladybug made a note to ask Chat ( _or maybe Nino or Juleka. They had a friend who signed and they themselves could sign as well, right?_ ) to teach her the basics of sign language sometime in the near future. 

Chat shrugged. “So that’s stopping my allergic reaction without knocking me out. Like it did with Monsieur Pigeon.” 

Oh, yeah, Chat had told her about that a few days ago, hadn’t he? It was a good thing that his kwami could help him like that, or Chat probably would be sneezing up a storm at best. But back to the task at hand… 

While M. Chaplin examined the bush next to her, and Chat went to examine the next bush over, Ladybug carefully parted the branches of the bush to look behind it. She picked up a shoulder bag of what turned out to be art supplies, but a quick glance inside and along the outside revealed no name or identification. Just the makings of a meal someone had forgotten to eat ( _some cheeses, leafy greens, and a chunk of crusty bread_ ) and some other stuff. Ladybug shouldered the bag to give to the lost and found her parents kept in the back of the bakery, and went back to examining the bushes. But while there was some disturbed dirt, there was nothing behind any of the bare spots in this bush save a few feathers and a bit of trash – like a balled-up paper, an open camembert container with crumbs of cheese still visible within ( _probably from the art bag_ ), and a few other odds and en- 

Ladybug picked up a small packet of small white pills with a scored line on silver backing. Cetirizine tablets, according to the writing on the front. Ladybug frowned, getting to her feet as her legs complained about sitting in a crouch for so long. She flipped the packet over and her heart dropped when she saw Adrien’s name written onto it with a black marker. 

Chat leaned in sharply, making Ladybug startle, as she hadn’t seen him stand up and come up beside her. He caught her wrist and turning it so he could see the back clearly as well. “Oh no. …No way would Adrien just drop and forget his allergy meds…” 

Ladybug looked around, biting her lip, then smiled when she saw a security camera. “Come on, we need to find out where the feed from that camera goes and watch the footage.” 

Chat frowned. “Will they let us?” 

Ladybug couldn’t help the look she gave her partner. “They’ve never said no before, Chat.” 

Chat’s ears swung out, then back. “Right. Sorry.” 

Keeping hold of the packet of allergy medicine, Ladybug pulled her yoyo out, switched it to its phone-setting, and hit the contact-icon for Brigadier Roger Raincomprix. She looked around as she waited for him to pick up, noticing that there were other small bare patches in the bushes around the central fountain. When Roger picked up, she explained where she was and what security footage she needed access to and then sighed, pacing, as she was put on hold while the Brigadier went to find out who and where. She went over to her house as she waited, offering the lost bag to her parents and smiling when they put it in the back of the bakery, waving off the offer of some ‘free samples’ as she headed back out and over to the park. She watched as M. Chaplin and Chat Noir had a conversation via sign language… about something of importance if the expressions Chat was pulling and the way their hands were flying were anything to go by. 

Honestly, she felt a little left out. If nothing else, she wanted to be able to know the BASICS. Like elementary level stuff. That shouldn’t be too super hard to learn, right? 

…Although… she’d have to fit that in between school and homework, superhero work, her projects and for-fun stuff, trying to figure out how to ‘portfolio’, her Tailor Time, meeting and talking with Master Fu about Miraculous stuff, CPR lessons… the list went on. 

…Okay, maybe she should wait on the ‘learn sign language’ plans at least until she finished the CPR stuff. …and maybe until after she got to a good ‘pausing’ point on her portfolio stuff. 

#“Madame Ladybug?”# 

“Yes?” 

#“I’ll have the security footage you requested at my office within the hour. Would you like to come and wait or would you prefer I call you when it arrives?”# 

“I’ll come and wait. I’ll be there soon, sir.” Ladybug closed her yoyo and put it back in place on her hip and walked over to Chat Noir and the bodyguard. “Chat, we have to go to the police station.” 

Chat glanced up at her, looked to the bodyguard when M. Chaplin signed something, then looked back to Ladybug. “Since it looks like Adrien might be in trouble, Monsieur Chaplin would like to drive us to the police station and see the security footage.” 

“Well…” Ladybug paused and sighed. Ugh, no good reason to say no, and Chat WAS right, the man was Adrien’s bodyguard and had reason to be involved. If M. Raincomprix decided that he could watch, then he’d be there and could watch. If it was decided that the bodyguard was not allowed… well, then that was that. “Sure. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, a reminder that I don’t know French Sign Language or Signed French and am using ASL/PSE when I have characters sign ( _depending on who is signing_ )


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anticanon for ‘Guitar Villain’ being applied here. Rather than Jagged ignoring the professional artists in his employ, and coming to the conclusion that the girl that made him cool glasses is also an artist of the highest caliber ( _which, no, that is not ‘obvious’. For one thing Marinette was sent out to find the glasses, she never says she made them. And secondly being creative in one way (design/apparel) does not mean creative in other ways_ )… Jagged put forward a contest to design his next album cover. Marinette was ONE OF the people competing.  
> Her original cover was the ‘XY’ version, because – let’s be frank here – that IS Marinette’s usual art style. That’s the style we see on her computer background, in her sketchbook, in her hat designs, in her clothes, and even in many of her ‘what if’ day dreams. And despite the show lambasting it, that is a PERFECTLY OKAY art style. Marinette’s line of ‘this art isn’t me at all’ is false and I’m still not really sure why the show felt the need to imply that Marinette’s usual art style was, in some way, ‘bad’.  
> But the original design/Marinette’s usual style wasn’t what Jagged wanted, as she found out when Jagged held a ‘mid contest’ video chat session with the contestants and gave their in-progress-covers a once over.  
> Marinette saw the style of cover that Jagged liked and, in what is a VERY IMPORTANT LESSON for commercial artists – which includes fashion designers – learned to fit her art to what the person who ‘commissioned’ her wanted and started work on her second cover.  
> Her cover won, in a large part, because she put a few drops of scented oil ( _leather and ‘ocean breeze’ to imitate leather and_ sweat) on a Jagged Stone sticker that she put in the CD cover. This creative flare, combined with the style now matching Jagged’s tastes, won Marinette the contest.

This day was going NOTHING like she expected. Ladybug had been surprised to one of the bank robbers from nearly two weeks sitting in the room, who Roger had introduced as M. Pierpont… which didn’t explain why there was a bank robber sitting in on watching security footage.

“Oh, it’s in case whatever’s going on is an akumatized with mind control powers,” Roger explained when she asked. “Monsieur Philippe Pierpont and his sister are both – somehow, we haven’t figured out how yet – immune to mind magics.” 

“I’m basically here so that if it all goes shhhhi… uh, pear-shaped… there’ll be someone uncontrolled who can sound the alarm and fill people in on what happened,” M. Pierpont explained, holding up a walkie-talkie. “Brigadier Raincomprix arranged things so my sister and I will be serving out sentences by doing this. …Works out best for everybody.” 

“Yeah, that sounds great!” Ladybug chirped, hoping the sudden spike of terror didn’t show. 

There were people immune to mind magics? Did that mean immune to the Glamour? Did that mean he could figure out who she was!? 

… 

Wait. 

Wait. Deep breaths. While Ladybug was famous, MARINETTE was not. Like… really was not. So far the only ‘big’ things she’d done had been competing with Max and winning the Ultimate Mecha Strike III tournament for the school, and winning the design contest for Jagged Stone’s ‘Rock Giant’ album. Which… well, one was rather niche and while her name had been credited on the cover of the other, her PICTURE had not been. 

She should be okay. She glanced over at Chat who looked like he’d come to the same conclusion she had. At the very least, he looked faintly relieved. Looming behind Chat, M. Chaplin looked mildly… uh… he had a faint emotion on his face and Ladybug had no idea what it was. The man was a mystery to her. It was really annoying. 

Ladybug made a mental note to tell Master Fu about the Pierpont siblings and find out all she could about ‘immune to mind magic’ and what, exactly, that meant as Roger prepped the security footage and set it to the time that Adrien would have left the mansion. 

The video quality was nothing like what television had told her it would be. It was grainy, and black and white, and all sorts of oddities. There wasn’t even sound. 

When the first ten minutes had no Adrien on camera, Roger started fast forwarding the video, pausing whenever someone came into frame. Marinette was surprised to see how popular the park seemed to be with her classmates. She saw Kim and Alix show up, apparently having a long-distance race, stopping at the park to cool down and catch their breath before heading off again. Chloé and Sabrina showed up, and poked around in the garbage bins for a bit before looking something up on their phones and heading off with long strides. Nathanaël showed up lugging an easel, paintbox, bookbag and set up under the tree trellis, painting Notre Dame if the direction he was facing was anything to go by. Kim and Alix showed up again, coming from the opposite direction this time, pausing to cool down and stretch out before leaving once more. Mylène, Max, Juleka, Rose and Ivan showed up, all focusing on their phones as they headed into the park and did… something… that required a lot of button mashing and bouncing in victory or slumping in defeat, then headed off again. 

Chat noticed her confused expression and smiled. “Pokémon Go. There’s a Gym someone set up in the park, Notre Dame’s a PokéStop and a Raikou’s been spotted in the area a few times, plus there’s usually a few rares like Bulbasaur near Notre Dame.” 

“Ugh. There is?” 

Chat leaned back slightly and blinked at Ladybug, surprised, as Roger went back to fast-forwarding. “What do you mean ugh? You don’t like Pokémon?” 

“I don’t know anything about Pokémon. I despise capturing and using animals to fight. Imprisoning animals in tiny balls when you aren’t using them is even worse.” 

Everyone in the room turned to look at her at that. Roger looked confused, Phillipe just shrugged and turned back to the video – not really caring it seemed, but the Gorilla and Chat looked almost poleaxed. 

Chat looked around as if for help, then looked back to Ladybug. “Uh. Ladybug? Pokémon may look like animals, but they’re really as smart as humans. And the ones that get ‘captured’ purposefully go to places where they can interact with and be ‘captured’. The pokéball shaking before the Pokémon stays in or not? That’s the Pokémon DECIDING to stay or not. Pokémon can leave the Pokéballs whenever they want, and they choose to fight.” 

Ladybug blinked. “What, no they don’t!” 

“No, really, they do. All the media says so. The game, the manga, the anime… Not animals, choose to be ‘captured’, choose to stay in the ball, choose to fight. Honest.” 

Ladybug eyed Chat. 

“You can go to the official site, or even wikis if you don’t believe me. And you DID say you don’t know anything about it. Maybe you should find out the truth instead of going off your first impression?” 

Ladybug hrmphed, annoyed at being caught out about Pokémon of all things and turned her attention to the security feed. 

Literal hours flew past on the screen ( _with the only real points of note being Kim and Alix making a third and apparently final stop at the park before heading for their homes, and then later still Nathanaël taking his art supplies and heading off as well_ ) before – at stupid o’clock – the figure that Roger stopped fast-forwarding to check turned out to actually be Adrien. 

“Where was he for most of the night?” Ladybug wondered. 

Chat Noir offered a _‘I don’t know’_ noise and shrugged, most of his attention on the screen as Adrien walked into the park and headed straight for the bench where the whole big Lila mess went down. 

But then… things went bad. 

Explosively bad. 

Just as Adrien walked through the center of the park, the bushes near the fountain EXPLODED. 

Or, well, didn’t explode, but there was a sudden cloud of feathers surrounding Adrien, like confetti for a parade. Adrien was caught in the cloud and staggered away from it, covering his mouth and nose with one hand while trying to get the feathers that were on his clothes off with the other. 

As he staggered close to the other side of the center ‘clearing’ a second explosion of feathers went off. 

Ladybug had both hands pressed over her mouth, watching in silent horror as Adrien dragged his over-shirt off – everything falling out of the pockets of the shirt and scattering around his feet as he covered his mouth and nose, falling to his knees. Chat Noir was gripping the back of the chair in front of him, claws digging deeper and deeper into the metal back, tail lashing wildly, his eyes wide in shock and horror. 

This had been hours ago. This had been HOURS ago… This had… She had to keep reminding herself that this was long over or she would try to rush out the door to try to save Adrien and wouldn’t know what had HAPPENED to him. 

On the screen, Adrien scrabbled around on the ground and grabbed something up, shaking it before pressing it against his outer thigh. 

“What was-” Roger started to ask. 

“Looked like an epi-pen,” Philippe said, frowning. “I sometimes would get people coming into the vet clinic I worked at who were allergic either to one of the other animals or something in the food or even medicines and would have severe reactions. …Lots of times, they’d use an epi-pen if it got bad.” 

“This doesn’t make sense,” Chat offered in a faint, horrified, whisper, watching as six men and two woman – all wearing masks – ran up to Adrien, three of the men grabbing him and pulling him off, one of the three keeping a hand over Adrien’s mouth as they dragged him out of view. 

Roger growled and hit pause on the video, looking at the time-stamp and digging through the other videos until he found one of the security cameras that covered where Adrien had just been dragged. He ejected the first tape and put the new one in, fast-forwarding to the time stamp. 

“This doesn’t… it doesn’t make SENSE, how could this-” Chat looked down at his right hand, cat-ears flattening to his hair before he looked back up, green eyes going wide. “This shouldn’t be-” 

Roger stopped fast-forwarding the tape and scowled. “Damn, of all the luck...” While there was an open van that the kidnappers had just dragged Adrien into, it was only partially visible on the camera, most of it blocked by the bushes and trees of the park. The kidnappers did… something – in the back of the truck. Maybe tied Adrien down? There was a bush in the way and Ladybug wasn’t certain if her heart could take this. 

One of the three men got out of the back, closing the doors before moving around to the front, getting in and driving off and oh no. Oh NO, she recognized that van! 

Ladybug didn’t… really hear what Roger, Phillippe or Chat said as the van drove out of the camera’s pick-up and Roger switched back to the other tape to see what the five remaining kidnappers did after the van left. 

That had… last night, the van she’d seen hadn’t backfired, the popping bangs had been the confetti cannons ( _or whatever they were_ ) and the van she had watched drive off and dismissed had had ADRIEN captive inside it?! 

On the screen, the five remaining people were cleaning up the feathers, raking them into garbage bags, then pulling what looked like small white cannons out from behind the bushes around the fountain ( _the three that had fired and six others_ ) as well as from behind the bushes near the tree. 

“Pause! Pause! Hit pause!” Chat yelped, lunging forward when Roger did as requested. Chat stared at the screen, then jumped and fumbled with his baton, sliding it open and zooming in on something on the screen. 

Ladybug made herself walk forward, trying to act normal – and not like her heart was pounding so loud that it was making her ears ring – to see what Chat had spotted. 

On the cannon, there was a symbol of a black butterfly in silhouette, bound with a ring. 

The primary symbol of the Agreste Company. 

“The missing SFX cannons,” Chat said in a horrified whisper. “THAT’S where they went.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. There really HAVE been Raikous spotted near Notre Dame and the park near Marinette’s house! Heck, three of my cousins were able to get one! Notre Dame is indeed a pokéstop, and last I checked Bulbasaur was actually a ‘rare’ in Paris at least. [Check it out!](http://pokevolver.com/pokemon-go/map/city/paris-france)
> 
> Mari’s opinions/views on Pokémon is the same as [Astruc's](https://twitter.com/thomas_astruc/status/792863660695748608) view on the matter.   
> Yes, fans have pointed out that pokémon are not dumb animals and all media has stated that they purposefully ‘let’ themselves be captured, choose to fight, are not kept imprisoned in the pokéballs and can leave whenever they wish, etc.   
> Astruc feels that pokémon are being forced to fight, are animals, etc.  
> I think this is a case of he never actually read the manga, watched the shows or played the games – as he’s stated that he knows nothing about the franchise/doesn’t want to read/watch anything related to it – and is just going off what his first impression was ( _and possibly he was misinformed_ ).  
> I do wish he’d admit that his statements of ‘animals forced to fight’ and being imprisoned and the like are incorrect. It’s okay to admit that you are wrong, after all.


	13. Chapter 13

Gabriel Agreste took the news better than Brigadier Raincomprix expected. At least in that after nearly an hour of shouting and shock and terror strong enough that Roger and all the cops with him had their mason jars, screw-lid plastic jars and locking-cap mugs off their belts, open and in hand and waiting warily for an akuma… the man went icy and controlled.

He also knew that the police were there to help, and after multiple kidnapping events in the past, he knew the basics almost as well as Roger himself. Gabriel turned the full might of his resources into finding his son, and as Roger knew from the kidnapping two years ago, those were some very NICE resources for the police to have access too. 

Resources that included having the mayor on call, it turned out, as Roger watched Gabriel Agreste call Andre Bourgeois and tell him of the kidnapping. The way it was handled struck Roger as odd until he remembered that the last high-profile kidnapping had been Emilie Agreste and a then twelve-year-old Chloé Bourgeois being kidnapped and held for ransom, and Roger knew that both families had had kidnappings prior to that. 

It made sense that the two richest men in Paris, who had dealt with multiple kidnappings and ransom and threats, would be so willing to work together. Sometime in the near future, it might be Andre calling Gabriel to ask for help after all. 

The two superheroes were out and about, Roger knew not where. Both had promised to keep an eye out for Adrien and his kidnappers, and to also try to not alert the kidnappers to this fact – people with a hostage feeling frightened ( _or threatened_ ) would not end well for Adrien, and Roger had made certain that BOTH had understood that before they left. 

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Ladybug landed on her rooftop balcony and stared down at the park. 

It looked quiet and unassuming and peaceful like it always did. No indication of the fact that someone had been kidnapped last night. Even now people were strolling around, relaxing and enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon, completely unaware of what had happened. 

Ladybug closed her eyes and took a deep breath and held it for a long count. No, panicking wouldn’t help anyone. 

She walked to the railing and stared down at the street. ‘ _Let’s see… Last night, when I saw the truck… it came from there and turned…_ ’ Ladybug’s thoughts trailed into silence as she frowned down at the road. She’d been half asleep when she saw the truck, but she was mostly certain she’d seen it drive down Quai de Montebello… She leapt to the next roof, jaw set as she thought, going over the most likely paths… 

These people had stolen SFX canons from the Agreste company. They’d had some idea ( _probably_ ) of the security cameras that were set up, given where they’d parked the van and how they’d worn masks, how they’d cleaned up all the evidence of what they’d done. 

…Maybe they’d paid whoever was supposed to watch the security footage to not report it so that it would not be reported to the police. Someone probably watched and reviewed it, right? Or was that just an ‘in the movies’ thing? 

Who knew. And right now, who cared? Not Ladybug. 

They might have something that would let them change the license plate, maybe just pulling it off and having another behind it, maybe like having it spin or turn. But that wouldn’t change the fact that the van was recognizable and could be tracked via traffic cameras. 

They would have wanted to switch to a new car, right? And wanted to do it as soon as they could. 

So where was the closest place they could have done that? 

Ladybug’s eyes went wide and she swung north, in a moment landing beside the underground Lutèce-Cité parking garage. 

Everyone knew that there were blind-spots here. Places where people tended not to go, places where the security cameras were spotty. She’d used that more than once to her advantage to transform and de-transform. 

What if ‘everyone knew’ included bad guys knowing? 

Ladybug went down into the parking garage, and headed from one ‘dead spot’ to the next, looking for an old, slightly battered, black van. 

In the second to last spot, she found it. It just sat there, abandoned, its doors closed, lights off, and unassuming. 

Ladybug looked up at the security camera. She narrowed her eyes when she saw that something was taped to the front of the camera and threw her yoyo, catching it and yanking it off and into her hand. 

A cheap tablet, playing a feed of the space that the camera would be picking up, apparently on a loop. 

Who WERE these people? The SFX canons, the feather trap, and now this? What was this? Why do this? It was almost like they were doing it more to be extra than efficient or anything else. 

Was it maybe sending a message? That was a thing, ‘look at what I can do, now imagine what ELSE I can do’? And with how things… were… now in Paris, with the akumas and Champions, maybe whoever was behind this thought that being extra was the way things worked now? 

Ladybug screamed in frustration, punching the side of the van, caving the side-panel in and sending the van skidding several feet to hit the wall with a crunch. Wrenching the driver side door open, she threw the tablet onto it before leaving at a run. There was probably no point in trying to see what vehicles had left around the time the van would have gone down. Paris never really slept, and for all she knew they might have stayed in the parking lot for hours. And there was no real way to tell WHAT they might have left in. It was pointless, and useless, and terrifying, and… 

Ladybug left the parking garage and leapt to the top of the building across the street, and was soon running across the rooftops of Paris. It was easier to think when she was moving. 

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Gabriel paced the length of his room wildly, Nooroo keeping pace at his shoulder, all of Gabriel’s careful icy control lost now that the majority of the police had left for the time being. Those that remained – present mostly in case the kidnappers called during the night – were staying in the guest room for the time being. 

“-do think that what you plan could work, Master, but I do not understand why you do not plan to call upon Spy again. Would not his skills be well suited to this matter?” 

Gabriel shook his head. “I can’t. If I were to send money out through channels so that his rose bushes were damaged or destroyed again… while it would likely still be a strong enough trigger for Malko to be akumatized again… the man is no fool. He would realize that I caused the triggering event and would likely refuse to work with me again at best, or go rogue at worst.” 

Nooroo nodded. “Yes, that is all true, Master. I… hope that we will be able to pick up the strong emotions of either Adrien or the kidnappers.” 

Gabriel closed his eyes, hands clenching before he headed for the bedroom door. “Come, Nooroo. We cannot afford to delay.” 

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“This was NOT THE PLAN. This is so far removed from the plan that the plan is in another UNIVERSE.” 

“I know…” 

“How did this happen?! What is GOING ON RIGHT NOW!? How could Adrien have been kidnapped!? How am I–” 

“We’ll figure it out, you know we will!” 

“This doesn’t make SENSE! What are we gonna DO!?” 

“Hey, you listen to me right now!!” 

Chat stopped pacing, chest heaving as he stared at Alya, eyes wide and blank in panic. 

Alya got off her bed and walked over to the black clad hero, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tight. “It’s okay. Deep breaths. You’re starting to shout and that’s something my neighbors might hear. We’re lucky my mom believed me when I said I wasn’t feeling up to going out to eat with the family tonight.” 

Chat wrapped his arms around Alya and hugged her tight. 

Alya waited until his breathing didn’t feel quite so ragged. “Better?” 

Chat nodded mutely. 

“Hey. We’re both here for you, and we’re gonna help, okay? Ladybug could help too, but NOW-” 

“Now the issue is we can’t tell Ladybug what’s going on without revealing that Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste.” Chat offered a weak sob of laughter, pressing his forehead against Alya’s shoulder. “Which would be even MORE confusing right now. I mean…” he closed his eyes. “How did the plan go THIS wrong? It was supposed to be simple.” 

“Maybe Plagg was right.” 

“…Yeah, I’m thinking maybe he was.” 

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“I am telling you, for the last time, if you are going to insist we switch to sedatives instead of ketamine, then start the damn sedative feed on him!” 

“And I am telling YOU, ‘for the last time’, that I neither CAN nor WILL do that!” 

The kidnapper drew a fist back, and Dr. Martin flinched, but one of the other kidnappers reached over, stopping the punch before it was thrown. 

“Why can’t you?” 

“Because one of you dosed him too heavily with Ketamine! AGAIN! He’s in a K-Hole. AGAIN. As if it wasn’t bad enough how heavily you dosed him when you grabbed him!” Dr. Martin snapped, waving at the boy laying on the only bed in the room. “I can’t ‘dose him up’ like you keep demanding until he swings out from under this! By what sanity did you dose him with this after a severe allergy attack? You’re lucky he isn’t DEAD. And then you just kept dosing him with it instead of letting him swing clear! It’s been well over 12 hours of this, you need to STOP or you’re going to kill him.” 

“What the hell is a K-Hole?” one of the women asked. 

“It means the person’s knocked out and makes it so they can’t move,” one of the men muttered. 

“It’s also hallucinations, disassociation, breathing issues and high blood pressure,” Dr. Martin growled. “None of which are something you should be having happen with someone you decided to almost send into anaphylactic shock!” 

“Why did we kidnap her again?” 

“Because she walked in while we were grabbing supplies and she knows how to IV and dose the kid better than any of us.” 

“So… no shooting or stabbing allowed?” 

“…God damn it, Dave, NO. Stop asking. We need him alive, and that means we need her alive.” 

Dave settled back, scowling. 

Dr. Martin eyed the man, then the other ten or so people standing around the room – watching as they talked shop and set up cameras and other gear she couldn’t make heads or tails of. After Dave noticed her attention and lifted his fist as if to strike her again, she returned her attention to Adrien, doing a careful check on him before she finished setting up the IV in his arm and hooking it up to the saline drip. Lucky. Everyone here – herself included – was so lucky she’d worked with anesthesiology before becoming a surgeon. …And lucky that she still remembered how to do all of this. There wasn’t much she could do right now… but she’d do what she could, and maybe a chance would come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, remember that apparently throw away line in TTSS that Tikki had about sending good luck Adrien’s way?
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Payoff!! ^^  
> The Luck Tikki sent Adrien’s way saved his life more than once in this Xanatos Pile-Up


	14. Chapter 14

“But, what do you mean you’re putting it on hold?!”

“Just what it sounds like,” Alec said with an easy smile that was probably just as fake as every other ‘tv’ smile. “After the disaster of Soldier akumatizing on live television and controlling a large portion of our audience, we need to look over the set up of the show, decide if we’ll be keeping it or scrapping it, recalls of certain attributes such as prizes where it’s determined to be necessary, that sort of thing.” 

Nino groaned, dragging on his hat. If this were ANY other time… he’d probably try to fight this. Or at least question it more. 

But now? 

Now, Nino’s best friend was missing – kidnapped! – and there was a whole slew of related problems… which included trying to salvage the utter MESS of Adrien’s plan. 

…and the utter mess of Chat Noir running around while Adrien was captive. Boy was that one going to be fun to explain at some distant point in the future, when Ladybug and Chat Noir got to tell each other their secrets. 

Nino was glad he would get to sit THAT ONE out. 

“Fine. Whatever. You’ll let me know when The Challenge will be starting up again?” 

“Of course,” Alec said, smiling that gratingly fake easy smile again. 

Gritting his teeth into a smile, Nino turned and left the room and headed down the hall. Grumbling he pulled his phone out of his pants pocket, adjusting the strap of his bookbag as he did so. This day was going so weird. First Chloé had called everyone in the art group and canceled the meeting set for this morning without explanation. To be honest, given what Nino and Alya knew about Adrien being kidnapped and how M. Agreste had called the mayor… Nino was willing to bet Chloé had been in earshot of that call or had strong-armed her father into telling her. No matter what else one could say about her, Chloé was… huh. Well, both Chloé and Adrien considered it friendship. Nino wasn’t certain what it was, only that Chloé did care ( _or maybe was possessive or protective of what she considered to be hers, who knew?_ ) about Adrien. Huffing in annoyance, Nino found and hit the icon he was looking for and he held the phone up to his ear, plastering a smile onto his face and nodding at the people walking up and down the hallway around him. 

#“Hello?”# 

“Hey, Babe. So… uh, well. Couple things.” 

#“Nino, I thought you had the Challenge today? Did you decide to back out?”# 

“I was gonna,” Nino admitted. “‘Cause no show is worth more than trying to find my best brooooo the perfect gift.” Nino aimed a smile at the young woman who was staring at him. “His brithday’s coming up fast. I just totally forgot till last minute. You know how it is.” The lady’s expression cleared and she offered a sympathetic smile before moving on. 

#“Nino, what… are… ohhhhh. Okay, that’s gonna make talking more fun.”# 

“But – uh – I ended up not having to back out.” Nino debated getting into the elevator… but between his nervous energy and possibly loosing signal, he instead went for the stairwell. “Also, I think Aurore was on the money.” 

#“…What, seriously?”# 

“Yeah. I just found out that they’re canceling The Challenge for who knows how long. And Alec maybe kinda threatened me with taking the prize money back.” 

#“What?! He can’t do that!!”# 

“I don’t think he can either. But now that he let that slip I can see if there’s a lawyer or something I can talk to, to see if they CAN do that.” Nino sighed, making another turn. Only two floors left now. “But… like I said, I was gonna back out. I was thinking that the three of us could maybe look a map over, plan a search… uh… pattern or something for the perfect gift?” augh why did there have to be people using the stairs? “Maybe do what you did a few days ago?” 

#“For Spy? That… could work. If nothing else, I can talk to Max and Juleka… have them help in the search. Maybe the rest of the class can help search. I mean, more eyes on the street, right?”# 

“Well… that should could be a good thing. But with- if you think they can keep it on the downlow so… THEY don’t figure it out and maybe… do stuff we don’t want them to do… then yeah, let’s go for it, Babe.” Chat Noir was gonna need all the help he can get and MAN was that confusing to consider right now. 

Nino paused on the stairs, frowning, when Alya took a sharp breath in. “Babe?” 

#“I… think I might have a way of finding out how the kidnappers had something like THAT all prepped and planned. …just depends on a few things.”# 

“Depends on… what does?” 

#“I’ll tell you later. …Maybe. Ugh, it’s something I think I’m not supposed to tell anyone about, because… stuff.”# 

“…Ooooookay. If you think it’ll help, I’ll take your word for it, Alya. I’m gonna go pick up my DJ table and gear and get it home.” 

#“Okay. …Be careful, alright?”# 

“I will be. Promise.” 

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This wasn’t WORKING. 

Papillon’s hands clenched on his cane. There were simply too many people in Paris. Too many emotions. The fact that he could not hunt for a specific person but instead could only keep a mental eye out in a general area had never been a hinderance before. 

That was not the case now. Now, he had no idea where Adrien was, or where the kidnappers were, or even if they were still in the city. 

Time to adapt and move on to a new plan. 

Papillon held a hand out and an akuma fluttered to land on his palm. He tucked his cane under his arm and cupped his right hand over the small spirit, charging it with negative energy. He paused for a moment, the akuma’s wings dusky purple with marks glowing bright violet. Usually he would continue to feed the charge, purposefully over-charging the akuma so that it’s wings became char black, but… 

No, this was not a case where power was paramount, this was a case where knowledge was the most needed resource. 

Papillon took his hand away and the akuma fluttered its wings for a moment, as if confused, then took to the air, leaving the room through the missing center panel of glass, flying north-east with deceptive speed. 

“Fly away, my little Akuma, and lie in wait until I call upon you.” 

Papillon breathed out slowly, then glanced down at his cane. Frowning, he tapped the crystal and it projected an image up above itself. 

Damn. Nearly noon. Natalie would not be able to cover for him for much longer. …and perhaps the police had managed to find some new information that would help him narrow his search down. 

“Nooroo, de-transform me.” 

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Ladybug looked up at a sharp thud, looking over her shoulder to watch Chat Noir walk up towards her. “Where’ve you been?” 

Chat leaned back slightly, blinking. “Searching for Adrien. Mostly to the south-west. If you called, it didn’t show on my baton?” he frowned slightly, staring at her. “Are you okay?” 

Ladybug opened her mouth, then groaned when she realized that despite planning to call Chat more than once, she’d never actually gone through with the call – she just kept getting distracted. “Ugh. Sorry, you’re right. I just… I want to find Adrien, I’m worried about him.” 

“I am too. Adrien’s m- he’s my friend.” 

“Alya introduced you to Adrien too?” 

“Alya wh-” Chat’s ears flicked and he blinked, then offered a lopsided smile. “Uh yeah. Guess we got caught out, huh?” 

Chat Noir got to be friends with Adrien but she didn’t. How was that fair? 

…Nevermind, something to try and figure out once Adrien was rescued. She could just picture it. Swinging boldly into his room as Ladybug and striking up a casual conversation. Calm, confident and cool. Or just walk right up to him as Marinette and- 

“So, where did you search?” 

Ladybug blinked, startled out of her daydream and pulled her yoyo out, sliding it open to show Chat her map. 

Chat leaned over to look at it, then frowned. “Have you been going since yesterday afternoon?!” 

“Well… Maybe?” 

Chat groaned. “Don’t you think your family is going to be worried?!” 

“I went home and ate dinner then went upstairs and left a pillow under my duvet, and later went home to go downstairs and eat breakfast before heading out again.” 

“Ladybug, you need sleep!” 

“I need to find Adrien!” 

“Adrien could be standing right in front of you and you’d miss it right now! Your eyes are bloodshot and you keep zoning out.” 

Ladybug scowled and slid the yoyo closed, hurt at the accusations. 

“What if you went right past where he was ‘cause you were tired? What if the kidnappers saw you and figured it out?!” 

And just like that, the anger fizzled. That… that honestly had not occurred to her. 

And it should have. Brigadier Raincomprix had made it very clear that while he couldn’t stop the two superheroes from looking for Adrien, he COULD insist that they do everything in their power to make certain that they didn’t alert the kidnappers to their search, as that would put Adrien in more danger than he was already in. 

Swinging around at all hours… maybe calling for Adrien a few times when she’d though she’d seen or heard him… That wasn’t ‘not alerting’ the kidnappers. 

Hopefully her luck had been enough to counter some sleep deprived choices. 

Chat put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey. Look, I’m sorry. I’m just worried too and that’s making me snappy. I got a full night’s sleep. Why don’t you go get a solid six or so hours? I can go over where you searched if you want me too. Then tonight we can maybe search together for a bit, then we can both go get some sleep and search more in the morning?” 

Ladybug nodded. “That’s… probably a good idea. …Thanks, Chat.” 

Another lopsided smile. “No problem.” 

Ladybug slid her yoyo open again and sent her map to Chat, then gave her partner a quick hug. “You gonna be okay?” 

Chat’s return hug was awkward. “What do you mean?” 

“…I’m not blind, Chat, I can tell something’s off, big time, even if I can’t figure out what it is yet.” 

Chat winced. “You can?” 

“How long have I known you?” 

“…well…” 

“I know you think you can’t tell me what’s going on. And I’ll respect that. But if you need to tell me, I’ll listen and I’ll help, okay?” 

Chat’s hug got a little bit tighter. “Thank you.” 

Ladybug gave Chat an extra squeeze, then extracted herself from the hug and headed for home, and was soon landing on her balcony. 

It surprised her, how suddenly – and sharply – exhaustion hit her when she de-transformed. She plopped to sit on her sun chair and blinked at Tikki. 

“Oh! Sorry, the energy I leant you must have worn off.” 

“Energy you leant… like Chat Noir’s kwami did for him, wi-” Marinette broke off into a yawn. “with Spy?” 

Tikki nodded. “Yes.” 

Marinette debated getting up and curling up on her bed… but it was actually a nice sunny May day, not too hot and no more noisy than usual… and her lounge chair WAS very comfortable, and the awning would protect her from the sun. ( _And she was feeling a little bit dizzy. Best not to chance anything.)_ She wiggled around to get comfortable, pillowing her head on her arms. “I didn’t really notice it. Ha _yawn_ ve you done it before?” 

“A few times,” Tikki admitted, flying around to examine Marinette’s potted plants. “It gives you more energy and lets you think clearly… tricks your mind and body into thinking you’re well rested, basically, but-” Tikki glanced over her shoulder at a faint snore and giggled at the sight of her Chosen fast asleep. “But it hits you hard when it wears off.” Still giggling, Tikki phased down into Marinette’s room and carefully pulled the pillow out from under the duvet and remade Marinette’s bed. 

It’d be best if Tom and Sabine didn’t discover this little ruse, after all.


	15. Chapter 15

Chat Noir frowned at his baton. What to do? Cover the areas he’d originally planned to or go back and check where Ladybug had while apparently sleep deprived?

Hrm. 

Chat paced, tail lashing, glaring at the screen on his baton, debating. On the one hand, he really wanted to cover as much ground as possible. That had to be the best way to find Adrien, right? But on the other hand, who knew what Ladybug might have missed when apparently half asleep. Chat growled softly, his pacing picking up to a slightly faster pace. One hand, then the other. New paths or check old? Even if he went with checking Ladybug’s path… where had her lack of sleep started to impact her? It would take hours, SEVERAL hours, to check everything she’d done. 

“Chat Noir!” 

How had everything gone so wrong? He’d ask if it could get worse, but he could think of a myriad of ways that it COULD so he’d avoid taunting Murphy. 

“HEY!! CHAT NOIR!!” 

Ugh. But what to do? More ground or check what had been ‘covered’? 

“…Swear to god the cat is deaf. **Chat Noir!!** ” 

Chat jumped slightly, then looked over the edge of the roof, and found a police officer glaring up at him. “Uh. Sorry, officer, I was-” 

“I honestly am not paid enough to care. Just get down here.” 

Chat Noir leapt off the roof, landing next to the police officer with a thud. 

“The brigadier wants to have a word with Ladybug about her search methods.” 

Chat winced. “Uh, Ladybug isn’t here right now, but I spoke to her about searching without enough sleep.” 

The cop shrugged and headed towards his car. “I’m not the one you need to tell that. Head to the Préfecture.” 

Chat sighed and watched the cop drive off, shoulders slumping. Grumbling, he held his baton up and extended it to get back onto the roof. Baton back behind his back, he looked around to get his bearings, then headed north. 

The meeting with Brigadier ( _and the other Pierpont sibling from the robbery, Maxime_ ) wasn’t the best. In fact, in Chat’s opinion it ranked up there with ‘worst ever’. Apparently during the tail end of her sleep deprived search, Ladybug had not been very stealthy, although it seemed everyone had gotten lucky and so far as the police could tell… no one had figured out WHAT Ladybug was up to, just that she was swinging around erratically. If you didn't know she was out looking for Adrien, then it was just Ladybug doing… something. Maybe searching, but there had been quite a few akumatized that the heroic duo had needed to search for prior to this, so most people would assume that was the case again. 

Hopefully, Ladybug’s luck would keep word of her actions from reaching the kidnappers. 

There was also the issue that Ladybug had apparently found the van the kidnappers had used and had NOT informed the police of her discovery, and Chat Noir had to watch the security footage of Ladybug pulling something off the camera with her yoyo, examining it, then punching the van into the wall, throwing the object into the driver side door, and then leaving. 

“Uh. I can honestly say I didn’t know about that. Like, at all.” 

Roger surprised Chat with a sigh and faint smile. “Yeah, I had a feeling, given what happened last time you two helped us look for a missing person. You both really care about people.” 

Chat smiled and ducked his head before looking back up to meet Roger’s eyes. “Um. I know that we’re only unofficial help, but I don’t suppose that… well, could you tell me what Ladybug was looking at, or if you know what car they left with or… anything?” 

Roger frowned, debating, then sighed. “Probably best I keep you two in the loop. But there is a payment for this. You two have to work WITH us more than you currently are. If I tell you to stay away from an area, you stay away. If either of you find something out, you tell us. I’d like more, but I know I’m not gonna get it.” 

Chat Noir debated for a moment, but… he held out a hand. “I can promise that I’ll do so, and I promise I’ll talk to Ladybug and tell her what you said and ask her to come talk to you too.” 

Roger shook Chat Noir’s hand. “I can agree to that. I know it’s the best I’m gonna get. …Here’s what we know.” 

‘What we know’ ended up being less information, and much more nebulous, than Chat would have liked, but it was still more than he’d had before hand. So after exchanging good-byes, the cat themed hero was soon back on the rooftops of Paris. 

Well. Now he had a general plan, a narrower area to search. Jaw set, Chat Noir took off over the rooftops of Paris. 

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Adrien woke up slowly, drifting from disjointed dreams of running over the roofs of Paris, searching frantically for… something… maybe Ladybug? He couldn’t remember. 

Racing became drifting. Drifting became floating… and the rooftops of Paris became a ceiling of a room he didn’t know. 

Shapes moving into and out of his line of sight, sounds rising and falling, but Adrien was operating at a complete disconnect and nothing made sense – or even really mattered as he slowly, slowly drifted along. 

The fact that he was lying on a bed, in a room he didn’t know, surrounded by people he didn’t know slowly registered. He blinked up at the ceiling and slowly followed it to where it met the wall. The plain, unpainted wall of rough hewn brick. He didn’t recognize it, but it looked weirdly familiar in a way her couldn’t place. 

A hand cupped the side of his face and the wall shifted away, and Adrien blinked at the new shape that filled his line of sight. An older woman that… he knew? In the same vague, disconnected way that he knew the wall, knew that something was wrong. 

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The door to the imperial suite opened up and the hotel’s major domo let himself in, closing the door behind himself as he balanced the tray of food on one hand. He walked to the solar and paused, sighing softly when he saw that Chloé stood within, arms crossed, glaring at the monitor. 

He put the covered tray on the small table and glanced at the monitor. Hmm. Map of Paris. The known path of the van, the parking lot that it had been found in, paths of the cars caught on camera that were most likely to be the kidnappers, and areas marked on the maps that Chloé seemed to think were the most likely areas for the kidnappers to have gone. Hearing a faint snore, he walked over and glanced into the bedroom, raising an eyebrow when he saw Sabrina asleep on the bed, the comforter thrown awkwardly over the sleeping girl. 

Walking back to the solar, he watched Chloé working out paths of cars and examining building blueprints ( _how she had gotten those, he didn’t care to discover_ ) for several minutes before speaking up. 

“Mademoiselle… have you slept at all?” 

“Of course I did, I’m not an idiot,” Chloé snapped, hand clenching on her upper arms. 

“Mademoiselle…” the butler sighed and put the tray down on the table. 

“He’s out there. Someone grabbed him and hurt him and they’re doing who knows what to him and when I was kidnapped he tried to find me! So I have to try to find him!” 

“Of course you do. But you do not have to do it alone.” 

“Why not?!” 

“I know for a fact that Adrien had others helping him while he tried to find you.” 

Chloé took her eyes off the monitor to eye Jean-Aloysius cautiously. “How?” 

“Because I was one of those who helped him, just as I helped your father.” He put a hand on her shoulder and gently steered Chloé to the couch and pulled the lid off the tray, exposing the lunch he’d brought her. “As I can now help you. Please eat, mademoiselle. I’ll go over your map and notes. Perhaps a fresh set of eyes will help.” 

Chloé picked up the platter of sushi and set it on her lap, sliding the chopsticks out of their cloth holder. She went to pick up the first piece, then paused, staring at the tray with all her favorites so neatly arranged. “…Jean-Aloysius?” 

“Yes, mademoiselle?” 

“Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome, Chloé.” 

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“So is he awake yet?” 

Dr. Martin sighed, not looking up from where she was carefully judging the boy’s reactions. “No, not yet. I only just stopped the feed, it’s going to take him a bit to swing clear.” She smiled when the kid blinked and shifted, starting to look around the room again, not as sluggishly this time. 

“How long is ‘a bit’?” the tall woman, Rachelle if she remembered correctly, demanded. 

“The anesthetics you stole are ones designed to keep people under for a long time safely. The trade-off for that is it isn’t like Propofol or the like, it isn’t ‘I turn it off and ten minutes later he’s awake’.” 

“That doesn’t answer my question. We need him coherent enough to read the prompts.” 

“He’s fit, healthy, young. Give it a half hour to hour.” 

“Fine.” 

Dr. Martin sighed softly as Rachelle walked to the other side of the large room, where they were setting up a camera and chair, pulling a cellphone out and hitting a contact number before holding the phone to her ear and had a conversation with someone. 

In English. 

Which she didn’t speak more than a handful of words of. Most of which were what Noah had told her translated as ‘I don’t speak English’ back when they’d first been married. 

That memory brought a brief smile to her face. Ah, Noah. She still missed him, the big doof. She and Emma were happily wed these last 20 years, but her first marriage was still one fondly remembered. And perhaps if he’d still been alive she might speak English better than she did now. …Which would likely be useful. She could pick up some things, and could roughly figure out some of it from there. Whoever was on the other end of the call seemed to be the person in charge, who all who answered the call treated with deference and perhaps fear. 

A sharp intake of breath made her look back to her ‘patient’, meeting still dazed, but now panicked, green eyes. 

“Shh. Shh, I know. Deep breaths. In… now out. In… and out.” 

A half hour wasn’t much, but it was all she could give the kid for now. 

But they were deep in the catacombs, with a set of professionals with orders that made no sense for ‘kidnappers’, and a mysterious voice on a phone speaking in a language she didn’t understand. 

This was bad. So very, very bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The phone conversation Dr. Martin couldn't understand:
> 
> “…Yes, we’re going to be sending in the first video now. …Yes ma’am. …Yes, it seems unlikely that he’ll relapse. …Yes. …No, we kept the stand in mannequin just in case we need it. …Yes, we’re wearing them as instructed. …Even Dave and our unexpected doctor, yes. …The field is up as well and seems to be holding steady. I’ll let you review the video before we send it. …The doctor says a half hour. …Yes, Monarch, I understand.”


	16. Chapter 16

The bakery was far busier than she had been expecting, although honestly, given how late in the afternoon it was, she probably should have. It was just that she’d gotten distracted searching, and then calling and meeting up with Max and Juleka at Max’s place to get their help ( _and promises of secrecy_ ) that most of the day had flown past before she’d realized it.

Alya edged her way through the crowd. She went to the left to edge around a woman who was paying for an order, offering a wave to Sabine, grunting when someone else walked into her from the back of the bakery, making her stagger back into someone else and it just cascaded from there into what felt like a twenty person pile-up but probably was far fewer people actually stuck in the tangle on the floor. It still ended up requiring Tom to come out of the bakery section in the back to help sort it out. 

Fortunately, most everyone was either alright with or amused by the situation, and the few who were angry about it settled down quickly with some apologies and free macarons. Alya reached out and snagged Nathanaël by the jacket collar when he tried to sneak off. 

“Gleep!” 

“Hi, Nath.” 

“SorryForRunningIntoYou,IWasJust-” 

“In a rush?” 

Nathanaël nodded, blushing. “I really am. Sorry, I mean.” 

“Where’re you rushing off TO?” 

“Well, home? It’s getting close to dinner time now and my foster parents worry when I’m late. All my plans for the day have kinda got messed up since Chloé cancelled the morning meet-up, and it took me most of the day to find out where my bookbag went.” 

“…Your bookbag?” Alya asked. 

Nathanaël nodded. “Yeah, I forgot it at the park yesterday, but someone turned it in to the lost-and-found Madame Dupain-Cheng keeps at the bakery.” 

Oh, that made sense. And explained why Nathanaël had been coming out of the back of the bakery. And also… darn it, she’d been so RELIEVED at Chloé canceling the art group meet-up it hadn’t really occurred to her how it would have impacted the rest of the group. Juleka hadn’t mentioned it at all, and now that Juleka knew about the kidnapping, she likely got why Chloé had cancelled. But Nath? “Sorry, Nath. Hope it’s just a little messed up, not a ton?” 

Nathanaël shrugged. “Probably more little than big. Actually, on the plus side of getting my bag back, I got some sketches done yesterday if you want to look?” He said, pulling a sketchpad out of his bookbag and looking up at Alya hopefully. 

Auuuugh, she really needed to get up to Marinette and talk to her, but… Nath had probably put a lot of work into this, and it should hopefully only take a moment. 

It was the woeful eyes. Nathanaël was almost as good at them as Marinette and Rose, it REALLY wasn’t fair. 

“Sure. Can’t stay long though, I’ve got some stuff I’ve… gotta get done.” 

Nathanaël smiled and nodded. “That’d be great. Thanks, Alya.” 

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Adrien sat on the hard chair, shoulders tense, the sleeves of his over-shirt rolled all the way down, hiding the bruises on his wrists and arms, as well as the IV in his arm, from the camera that was set up to record him. 

He ran his fingers over the silver Black Cat Miraculous on his right ring-finger, trying to use it as a focus point. He’d already started to have one panic attack and- he winced when one of the men stepped towards him sharply. 

In. hold. Out. Had to calm down. If he had another panic attack they’d grab him and dose him again and the big burly, scary one, Dave, might actually go through with his threat to ‘beat the fear out of him’ when he woke up from under the dose this time. 

Or Dave might go through with the threat to stab Dr. Martin, cut her throat or worse. Having a panic attack meant he wasn’t reading the script, wasn’t doing what the kidnappers wanted… 

Adrien stared at the ring, focusing on it and trying to ground himself as he focused on breathing. In. Hold. Out. This wasn’t four years ago. He was a teenager now, he wasn’t a scared little 11 year old. ...But this time Père wasn’t here to protect him and help him stay calm, to keep the kidnappers focused on him and not Adrien. 

Adrien gulped. He wasn’t a child anymore. He was a hero. Heroes were brave. 

… 

He didn’t feel very brave. He wanted Père. He wanted Maman. He wanted to not be here and not be hurt and not know that as soon as he finished video he was going to be drugged again. 

In. Hold. Out. Plan had turned into a mess. It should have been simple, should have worked easily. …Instead kidnappers wearing weird jewelry and having giant statues and geodes and other weird things all over the room somewhere deep in the catacombs… 

In. Hold. Out. He knew a lot of the catacombs. It was possible that if he could get away, he could escape… but he wasn’t alone. He had no way of making certain that Dr. Martin could escape with him, that she would even want to, and no way to protect her even if she did. 

In. Hold. Out. He wasn’t alone. Chloé would be looking for him, like he had looked for her the year before last. Père would be looking for him. Alya and Nino and Plagg would be looking for him. Maybe others. 

They would find him and save him. He had to believe that. 

In. 

Hold. 

Out. 

Adrien looked up from the ring and met the gaze of the kidnappers. But for them to do that, he had to do whatever he could. 

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“-ri… MarinEEeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEeeeeeeeeeEEEtte…” 

Mmmmmph, wha? Ugh, comfortably warm spot was now too far into the ‘warm’ side and not enough ‘comfortable’. 

“Marinette? Hey, wake up, girl.” 

Marinette groaned and curled up tighter. Noooooooo, wanted to sleeeeeeeeeep. 

Something poked her between the shoulder blades sharply. “Mari.” 

When the poking kept going, Marinette opened her eyes and blinked at the setting sun she could just see over the edge of the cement railing. Wow. It was late. When had that happened? 

“Marinette. Wake your butt up.” 

Marinette rolled over on her sun chair and blinked to clear sleep-gummed eyes. “…Alya?” 

“Hey. So, I need you awake. I’ve got… some really vital stuff I’ve gotta tell you, and some questions that I think you might be able to answer.” 

Marinette sat up, scrubbing the gunk from her eyes. “Stuff like wh-” 

Alya shook her head. “No, I need you 100% awake for this. And I want you to promise to hear me out before you panic.” 

Before she pani- … Did… Did Alya KNOW about Adrien being kidnapped?! If so HOW did she know? And why come to Marinette if she did? 

Marinette jolted to her feet as fear sliced through her in an icy wave. Had Alya figured out that Marinette was Ladybug?! What other reason would there be for Alya to tell Marinette that- 

“See, you’re panicking and I haven’t even SAID anything!” 

“Do you have any idea how badly ‘don’t panic’ makes people panic? It’s like ‘don’t look down’! Saying it MAKES PEOPLE DO IT!!” 

Alya opened her mouth, blinked and offered a rueful smile. “That’s a good point. Sorry. But I do need you to try to stay calm, okay?” 

Marinette sat down on her sun chair and nodded. There was no way Alya would be this calm, or telling MARINETTE to sit down if Alya had figured out she was Ladybug, right? So this had to be something else… Alya was friends with Chat, maybe he’d gone to her for help in finding Adrien? That might be how she knew about it. 

Alya took a long, deep, breath. “Okay. You know I’m a friend of Chat now… and he told me about how you went with him to tell Gabriel around the book and get him ungrounded and stuff and saw that Adrien snuck out last night… But I…” Alya met Marinette’s eyes. “Marinette, Adrien was kidnapped last night.” 

Marinette took a deep breath in, staring at her shoes. How would should she react? She… honestly wasn’t CERTAIN how she should act, and- 

“Oh my god, you knew.” 

Marinette looked up at Alya, eyes wide, sucking in a breath to deny it. 

“HOW!?” Alya demanded. 

“I… I can’t-” 

“Ohhhohoho NO you most certainly can!” Alya snapped, hands on her hips. 

If she didn’t come up with something FAST, Alya was going to figure it out. 

Good luck don’t fail her now. 

“Ladybug.” 

“…Ladybug?” 

Marinette nodded, mind flying as she came up with an excuse on the fly. “She found out about the kidnapping and… well, I helped with Evillustrator and some other small stuff, and I live right next to the park so she… came to ask me if I’d seen anything weird. I… I figured out why she was asking while telling her about some weird pops that I’d thought had been a van I saw driving away backfiring.” Marinette gulped back tears. “I… I SAW the van that had Adrien in it and I just went back to SLEEP.” 

“Aw, Mari.” Alya sat down on the sun chair and hugged Marinette. “You didn’t know. You had no way to know” Alya patted Marinette’s hair, letting Mari cry herself out, only leaning back when the sniffles slowed to a stop. “Better?” 

Marinette nodded against her friend’s shoulder. It wasn’t just the van but the whole MESS, all the stuff she couldn’t tell anyone except Tikki, because no one but Tikki knew both sides of the story. “Sorry.” 

“No, it’s okay. Is that why you were acting weird? Your mom mentioned it.” 

“Yeah, I… Ladybug asked me not to tell anyone, so I couldn’t tell them…” Marinette took a deep, slow breath in and sat up so she could look at Alya. “Why did you come to tell me about Adrien?” 

“Your schedule.” 

“My… schedule?” 


	17. Chapter 17

“So, how is my schedule going to help us find Adrien?”

“Well… the kidnapping was just too precise, you know? I mean they stole those cannons… actually they stole a lot of cannons, cause they apparently were mostly one use ones or something?” Alya paced the length of Marinette’s roof, unable to sit still. “So they probably had a few spots set up like the one at the park but… They knew Adrien spends a lot of time at the park and maybe other places. That he can, and has, snuck out of the mansion or away from his bodyguard a bunch of times.” 

Marinette nodded, brow furrowing. “Okay?” Then she blinked as she realized what Alya was saying. “So, they knew places that Adrien goes alone. They knew very precisely.” 

Alya nodded. “So… your schedule is… really precise too. So maybe however you got the information is how they got it. Or maybe we can use it to figure out other places they might have set up to catch Adrien and check security footage or something to get more information. Maybe it won’t be much, but it’s something, y’know? Especially if we can write it all out and stuff so M-” Alya closed her mouth sharply. 

“So…?” 

Alya sighed and flopped to sit on Marinette’s sun chair. “Um. So, it turns out that there was an akumatized that Ladybug and Chat Noir fought that didn’t really get covered by the news. Spy. He could go invisible and was following Chat around. I found out about it when I finally watched the video I’d made, from the day Soldier controlled me, and I let Chat know. He asked me if there was a way that I could map out where Spy had been. I knew that I couldn’t on my own, so I had Juleka and Max help me.” 

Marinette nodded, doing her best to look shocked. This was, after all, stuff that she knew, but there was no possible way that ‘Marinette’ would know this, and she had to make certain that Alya remained unaware of the detail that this was not new information at all. 

Blech. Life was so annoyingly complicated now. “And since they kept helping with an akumatized and superheroes secret, and with finding an akumatized, you figured maybe they could help with finding Adrien?” 

Alya nodded. “I’ve got a list of questions about times and places and stuff that Max and Juleka came up with, so your schedule might help with that too.” 

Marinette got to her feet. “Okay. If you think it can help save Adrien, let’s get started.” 

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There had never been a time where Roger had even ENTERTAINED the notion of akumatization being a positive or ‘useful’ thing. How could he? A supervillain turning normal moments of venting or hurt or anger into something that could lead to you destroying the whole city and worse. 

But right now, watching what was obviously a prerecorded video that the kidnappers were trying to pass off as live, of a scared kid the same age as his little girl… Roger found himself almost wishing for one of those dark winged butterflies. He was certainly ANGRY enough for Papillon to pick up his emotions, and – more than anything – Roger wanted a way to find and save this kid. Having to have to fight or try to steal the Miraculi from Ladybug and Chat Noir… well, to start it was pretty much a given he wouldn’t succeed, those two were too good. And secondly, he could just agree to fighting them AFTER he rescued the kid, right? 

On the screen, Adrien was working his way through what had to be a script, fingers playing with the silver ring on his right hand, with the cuffs of his over-shirt and with the arms of the chair he was sitting in, occasionally lacing them together tightly before starting the cycle again. 

Roger could see a hint of bruising on Adrien’s arms, could see that there was something under the fabric of the over-shirt at Adrien’s inner elbow. Something he’d lay good odds was an IV cannula and port. It was in the right spot and about the right size. 

Adrien finished talking and the camera panned around sharply. Roger narrowed his eyes, trying to catch the splice point, but it seemed like a smooth transition. Whoever these people were, they were good. 

Roger listened carefully as the woman who claimed to be in charge spoke in carefully measured French, giving a list of demands. 

Very vague and odd demands, to be honest. Gabriel was a fashion designer. Yes, one that was friends with the mayor of the city, and who dabbled in perfume and cologne and jewelry, was one of the wealthiest people in Paris, and had – so far as Roger was aware – been hired by military organizations both private and government sanctioned to design uniforms and likely ‘casual’ wear as well. 

So what was this ‘human resource department’ nonsense about? Why such careful phrasing? Why the demand that Gabriel ‘reassign his work from a personal wish to working under a more ‘mindful’ manger’? Yes, fashion had made Gabriel Agreste VERY rich and gave him a shockingly impressive resource pool and contacts all over the world with people civilian, military and… other… but this… felt like something else. 

The woman ended the call with a ‘we’ll give you time to think the matter over’ and the screen went black. 

Roger took a moment to gather himself up and settle his thought before he turned to look at M. Agreste, who was pale, jaw and hands clenched, and Roger took pity on the man. 

He turned to look at Mme. Sancœur and the police officers who specialized in technology. Natalie looked stressed and angry, but not to quite the same degree as Gabriel. “Madame?” 

Natalie jumped slightly and her gaze snapped to Roger. 

Ah, so perhaps it was more a case of she simply hid it better. 

“It probably would be best if my officers went over the video and analyzed it, if you could give them the files that would be a great help. And… when you, or Monsieur Agreste, feel you can, we will need to discuss the video and demands.” 

“They’re Americans.” 

Roger blinked and turned to look at Gabriel. “Sir?” 

Gabriel’s eyes were closed, his hands still tightly clenched, but he seemed to be more in control now. “They spoke French well, but given the pacing of their words and sentences, and some of the rounding of the vowels and stress on consonants, they are Americans… most likely from the ‘New England’ states. The… distinct butchery of our language is one that I have heard while in New York City for Fashion Week over the last decade or so. It is very distinct from that of say, an Englishman of London’s accent.” 

Huh. He’d picked up that the pacing and accent placed the woman as a non-native speaker, but it made sense that Gabriel, who traveled the world twice a year, would be better able to identify certain accents. “That will be very helpful.” If nothing else, now Roger could assign people to checking footage from airports and ship ports and all other ports of call, use face checking software to try and see if any of the kidnappers that had shown up on camera could be spotted and tracked back from there. “Is there anything else you noticed?” 

Gabriel shook his head. “Nothing I can think of. If… you do not mind, Brigadier, I need a to clear my head. If I may retire to my room for a moment?” 

Roger nodded. If he’d just seen his little Sabrina on the screen… scared and bruised and haggard… He would need more than a ‘moment’. “Of course. Examining the footage and audio files will take us an hour at best.” 

Gabriel nodded and marched stiffly out of the room and all but fled up the stairs to his room. 

Roger turned back to Mme. Sancœur. “If you need to take some time as well, that is perfectly understandable, Madame.” 

“I do not need a MOMENT, I need to find Adrien,” Natalie snapped, then winced, taking a deep breath in, her icy mask dropping back into place. “Adrien has been my charge for over a decade. Madame Agreste was a good friend of mine, and Monsieur Agreste is a man I both respect and am proud to work for. …It is my duty, and my desire, to find my charge and return him safely home to his father. Aiding you and your officers in doing this is what will help me, just as having a few moments to regain control of himself will help Monsieur Agreste.” 

Roger nodded. “Alright. Sacha, this is your field, walk us through this.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, a reminder that I saw the Korean version of Origins 6 months before the English dub, and nearly a year before the French, and as a result Nooroo is solidly ‘female’ to me and uses said pronouns in my fics ^^  
> I also am addressing Marinette’s schedule this chapter. As readers of my fics likely know, I really do not like the schedule’s existance and find the fact that the creative team had Marinette have it and treat it as ‘cute’ to be creepy at best. Mari is a good, sweet, well-intentioned kid. So I handled this as gently as I could and Mari will continue to address this moving forward. But this is the last time the schedule – if it shows up/is mentioned – will be treated as a good thing. I only give two ‘get out of jail free’ cards, and this is the second one Mari got. And yes, this ‘only 2 times where a bad thing is treated as good’ applies to everyone else. BUT just as Mari was handled gently here, so to will everyone else be extended that courtesy.

Nooroo watched Gabriel pace the confines of his bedroom, waiting quietly for him to regain control of himself and sort through the emotional turmoil he was experiencing.

It took several minutes before Gabriel slowed to a stop and took a deep breath, then turned to look at Nooroo. “Now that we have seen him, will we be able to locate-” 

Nooroo shook her head. “No, Master. I paid attention and focused, but I could not feel any spikes or direction while I watched the video. It is possible that television simply does not work that way. Or that they are outside my, admittedly, narrower range when I am not powering you. They might also have protection magics up to block themselves from detection. It could even be a combination of some or all of these factors. …It could even be something I have not faced before.” 

“Damn. Damn and blast!” 

Nooroo jumped slightly. “OH!” 

“Nooroo?” 

“The akuma moves to akumatize your target, Master!” 

“What now?!” Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course now, why wouldn’t it be now?” he strode over to the bedroom door, grabbing the comforter off his bed as he went and locked the door, then stuffed the comforter against the gap at the bottom of the door. He glanced to the windows, nodding when he saw that the shades were still drawn. 

Not ideal, but the best he could do. 

“Nooroo, transform me.” 

Nooroo flew into the brooch as motes of light materialized and raced to cover Gabriel, shaping themselves into butterflies even as they encased him in fluttering wings for one long moment… then darted away, revealing their transformed master. 

The akumas settled over every surface of Gabriel’s room. The floor, the bed, the canopy and it’s poles, his desk, chair and computer. 

Papillon took a deep breath in to settle himself, setting his cane on the ground, hands clasped over the terrarium jewel that capped it. Purple light flared, and Papillon opened his eyes. 

“Hello, Shadowhawk. I am the Papillon.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Alya looked from the list of questions Max and Juleka had come up with to Marinette’s schedule and back again, mentally wincing, as Marinette went over Adrien’s usual schedule for Saturday and Sunday. Adrien, it turned out, spent MUCH more time at the park than anyone, save Marinette and apparently the kidnappers, had realized. He also, apparently, snuck out of the mansion roughly once every other week, most often on Saturday nights. 

What Marinette hadn’t been aware of was how Adrien was getting out of the mansion, nor did she know why he’d been slipping out, only that he usually got himself home before dawn and she assumed that Gabriel was not aware of his son sneaking out. 

Although given how quickly Chat said Natalie had checked the security footage, and how unsurprised Gabriel had been, Alya had a feeling that he had a good idea of how often his son snuck out. 

“Marinette?” 

“Yeah?” Marinette asked in a distracted tone, looking over her schedule, trying to find any more information that might help them discover… anything of use. 

“You’ve got info a lot of information about stuff Adrien’s gonna be doing and has done, even little things like meeting with his father, or lunch meetings with different people.” 

Marinette nodded. “Yeah?” 

Alya hesitated. Marinette was her best friend. But she remembered the conversation she’d had with Chat, how off put he’d been at the idea of someone having a schedule of stuff he did and when, especially without his knowledge… if nothing else, she should warn Marinette because sooner or later someone would see the schedule who would tell Adrien. Everyone’s luck ran out sooner or later. 

“I… last week I was talking with Adrien – oh don’t give me that look, I told you we were friends now! …and don’t give me THAT look either, we’re JUST friends, thank you very much.” 

Marinette huffed, but subsided. 

“Apparently while he was out shopping for clothes with… a friend… and some people apparently tried to separate him from his body guard. It might even have been this group, the timing fits.” 

“What does that have to do with my schedule?” 

“Two things. …The first is, well, how did you find all this stuff out?” 

“Bunch of ways. I asked Adrien and Nino and-” 

“No, you didn’t.” 

Marinette froze, staring at Alya with wide eyes. 

“Don’t lie to me, girl. You still can barely string a whole sentence together around Adrien, and Nino… he’s got no clue that you like Adrien, which means you never went up to him and went ‘hey old friend, can you tell me details of Adrien’s schedule? Why? Oh, I’ve got a massive crush on him’. Plus, Nino knows how private Adrien is about stuff, he wouldn’t have given the information out.” 

Marinette started to draw a breath in, but then deflated when Alya stepped the side-eye up to a straight-up glare. 

“Okay… I got it from Adrien and Nino but they didn’t KNOW that I got it… Sometimes before or after class they’ll talk about stuff and – well, I sit right there so I can hear it?” and maybe, MAYBE, she’d snuck around so she could hear them talking, or Nino talking to Alya or stuff. It wasn’t bad if she overheard it, right? “but that’s only some of it, like the tailor session with his father and stuff like that. The rest I got online mostly.” 

“Official sites?” 

“Mostly? Magazines, the Agreste Corporation’s site, fan sites, and stuff like that.” 

“So… a lot of it was stuff the kidnappers could have used. Can you give me a list of all the sites and stuff? Chat’s gonna take a lot of the info to Monsieur Agreste and if there’s THIS-” Alya waved at the schedule “-much information, there might be leaks, and maybe they can figure out where the leaks are.” 

That… hadn’t really occurred to her. The fact that other people might be able to find and use the information, and use it for something BAD, had never occurred to her. She nodded. “Please do. I’ll write down every site and magazine I have bookmarked or saved and see if I can remember any others.” 

“Sounds good.” 

“What was the second thing?” 

Alya blew out a huge breath, chewing on her lip before finally looking Marinette in the eye. “When I talked to Adrien, he talked about how he hates stalkers and stuff like that. I asked him what he considered ‘stalking’, and… one of the things that seemed to almost freak him out when… when he talked about it… was someone having his schedule without him knowing about it. …I didn’t tell him about yours, don’t worry. But… I thought you should know.” 

“But… but it’s just so that I know where he’ll be so I can-” Marinette broke off. Wait, that sounded bad even to her. “You KNOW I can’t really talk to him yet, I just… want to know so I can go and try and… and…” Marinette trailed off when Alya just kept staring at her with an understanding expression. “…That wouldn’t matter to him, would it? Why I have it doesn’t change that I have it. …and he doesn’t like the idea of people knowing that stuff.” 

Alya nodded sadly. “Especially since you see him all the time, I think. You don’t NEED the schedule to know when you’ll see him, and maybe you could… focus on talking to him? Small steps? Talk to him, maybe try to be his friend before you start planning how many kids you’re gonna have? I just… if he ever finds out about the schedule, he’s gonna freak. Like I don’t know how bad freak, and he might not want to be around you if he found out badly enough.” 

Marinette blinked back tears. “He… he would?” 

Alya sighed and patted the chaise, hugging Mari when she came to sit beside her. “I think maybe he would. And I just… Adrien’s my friend too, I don’t want to have to keep something that I know he hates a secret from him, but there’s no way I’m gonna betray my BFF and tell on you. And sooner or later, everyone’s luck runs out. Sooner or later someone who’ll tell Adrien, or even Adrien himself, is gonna see the schedule… and you might not be able to explain yourself then.” 

Marinette nodded against Alya’s shoulder. “Yeah… I’m lucky but… my luck doesn’t always hold. And it tends to be really bad when my luck goes bad.” 

Alya squeezed her friend. “And I don’t want that to happen to you. You’re a good person, Mari.” 

“…you’re not gonna tell Adrien or Monsieur Agreste about the schedule when you go to talk at the mansion, are you?” 

“No! I never would! …Actually, do you wanna come? I’m gonna go talk to Max and Juleka first, then go to the Agreste Mansion.” 

Marinette shook her head. “No, it’s best if I don’t go. Monsieur Agreste already called me ‘one of Adrien’s admirers’ and I might let it slip that the stuff you’re saying is from ME if I’m there.” And also… she wanted to get out and search, meet up with Chat to thank him for getting her to sleep, see if he’d found anything. 

…and she always felt and thought better when she ran. 

Alya gave Marinette a final squeeze and order to call her if she needed to talk, then left. 

Marinette sat on her chaise, staring at the pull down schedule. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“Nooroo, detransform me.” 

Purple and white light crawled up Papillon’s form, leaving Gabriel in its wake. He reached a hand out and caught Nooroo as she flew out of the brooch and started to fall. He brought her around to his jacket, and Nooroo tucked herself into the pocket he’d made for her. 

Gabriel looked at the clock and sighed. Nearly an hour. Natalie would not be able to cover for him much longer. Walking to the door, he picked up the comforter and gave it a shake to get the wrinkles out. 

“Ah, Master? Are you planning to leave your room?” 

Gabriel paused, frowning down at Nooroo, who was peaking out at him from his jacket. “Yes, Nooroo. I have no choice but to do so, after all.” 

“But, um…” 

Gabriel sighed and finished gathering the comforter into his arms. “But what, Nooroo?” 

“…the akumas?” 

Gabriel blinked at the kwami, then slowly looked up and turned around to face his room. 

Which was still covered in hundreds of spirits bound in the shape of white butterflies, summoned from his observatory to his room by his transformation. 

…There was no possible way he could explain something like THIS to the police. 

“…oh damn and blast.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I'm late.  
> And I am very, very sorry about that. I lost my balance and fell earlier this week avoiding dogs and landed badly, and have have been having health issues 'behind the scenes' this fic, which ate up my buffer.  
> I'm hoping to not fall behind again, or at least be able to give warning if I think I will end up doing so.

Two days.

Two long, horrible days. 

Marinette pressed her forehead against her arms, trying to stave off the headache that had been plaguing her all day, zoning out as the teacher kept talking about history this and history that and important person one and important person two and honestly who cared about this stuff? Not Marinette, that was certain. 

Monday had been bad. To start – as the general public didn’t know about the kidnapping, that meant that Marinette had had to go to school. While her initial plan had been to play at being sick, she’d wanted to talk to Alya, Max and Juleka about what ( _if anything_ ) they’d managed to discover, so ‘playing sick was not really an option. 

What her friends had managed to piece together hadn’t been much, but it had still been something. Oddly, both yesterday and today, Sabrina and Chloé had been absent, for reasons unknown, although Marinette found herself wondering if Chloé had found out via her father or Sabrina what had happened to Adrien and was… helping? Thinking she was helping? Chloé WAS very single minded, so maybe if Sabrina or the police pointed her in the right direction she could be helpful. Marinette sighed into her arms. Who cared. 

Marinette had spent lunch hour as Ladybug, originally planning to search… but Chat had left a message for her and when they’d met up, they’d had a very long, and very serious, talk about working with the police and what it meant. 

It had been an uncomfortable conversation for both of them, but it had spared her having to have to talk to the police, which was… well, she guessed it was a win( _ish_ ). It had also, unfortunately, ended up taking all of lunch break to sort out what the police force had asked of the two heroes, and also simply the two of them covering whatever information they’d gathered. 

Things had gotten weird after school though. She and Chat had gotten flagged down by the police almost off the bat… 

Not, it turned out, about Ladybug doing her own thing or not telling the police about the van she’d found or any of that. But instead because people were spotting what had to be an akumatized, who called herself Shadowhawk… who was behaving… Marinette frowned, glaring at the little bit of desk she could see in the hollow space her arms created. Not erratically, because so far as Marinette could figure the akumatized woman was very methodical and was obviously focused on her goal, whatever it was. But unlike pretty much any other akumatized Marinette could remember dealing with. 

She’d been seen starting late Sunday night, with regular siting all through Monday and Tuesday, and to all accounts a woman in silver armor with a sort of ‘hawk’ themed full-face helmet and metal feathered ‘glider wings’ that were usually folded on the back like a short cape. 

Shadowhawk had first been seen Sunday evening in the 1st, 4th, southern part of the 6th, northern part of the 14th arrondisements. After poking around the Agreste mansion, she’d gone to the main garbage dump within Paris’s borders ( _Sos Débarras Paris_ ), and then had gone to Déchetterie Espace tri Porte de Pantin just outside of Paris and even as far afield as Dechetterie de la porte de la Chapelle. All three garbage dumps had reported the akuma showing up and scouring the dump over, and even had asked the people working there for access to security footage and asked for the workers to let her examine the footage and dump and stay out of her way. She apparently had been calm, quiet, and polite – but had pressed the issue when the workers had tried to dissuade or delay her. After more than 8 months of akumatized attacks, the general rule was: if the Champion wasn’t acting aggressively, either leave them be or try to coax/herd them out of a location, depending on the situation. After examining the footage and dump, Shadowhawk had left to go to her next location; from the Mansion to the dumps to various streets across the city. 

The story of how the Champion was acting stayed the same at each location – be it mansion street or dump. Always examining the ground and shining a red colored flashlight on things.. and she consistently would ignore the normal people outside of occasionally asking them to steer clear of the ‘area I am examining’, and always pulled a cut and run if the police approached, taking to the air and climbing FAST before flying off in an apparently random direction… disappearing for a few hours before showing up again and repeating the same sequence again. 

That particular Champion, Ladybug had tried to confront twice so far. The Champion had seemed aware of Ladybug’s approach and she had simply retreated into the air the very SECOND Ladybug would get close enough to cast her yoyo. Chat had tried sneaking up on the akumatized and had no better luck. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir had stayed out late following leads that the police had suggested from ‘new information’, but Ladybug had finally made a command call when both she and Chat had started to drag and stumble at sometime around 10pm, and both had gone home to sleep. 

Tuesday, somehow, was shaping up to be worse. Maybe it was because Adrien had been missing for over two days now. Maybe it was because all the leads had dried up. Maybe it was just because she hadn’t been able to get a really GOOD night’s sleep ( _even if it had been nightmare free_ ) and slowly but surely she was just… drained. Maybe it was because the quick check-in with Alya and the ‘computer’ crew had resulted in nothing, and lunch had resulted in nothing and she’d been too stressed out to actually EAT during lunch break, and now she just had no energy AND her stomach was growling at her. 

She just had to get through History. One more class and then the school day would be over. And then… 

Marinette sighed. Then the debate became… did she take a nap to try and regain some energy or try to go out anyway? She frowned when her stomach growled. No matter what, she needed to eat when she got home. She could ask Tikki to relay a message to Chat’s kwami and see what her partner thought, or at least tell him that she’d be late. 

Someone poked her shoulder sharply and Marinette jerked out of the partial doze she’d been in and she lifted her head and blinked her eyes clear. She watched as everyone packed up, Nathanaël and Nino almost bumping into each other as they headed out faster than the others. 

Wow, she’d dozed through the bell ringing. She was definitely going to go for a nap after eating. 

“Come on, girl, up an at ‘em,”Alya said, poking Marinette again. 

Marinette laughed and got to her feet, putting her tablet in her backpack before slinging it onto her back. “I think I’m going to go home and take a nap.” 

Alya smiled. “Might be a good idea. You look like a racoon.” 

Marinette stuck her tongue out at Alya, then headed out of the classroom, offering Kim a faint ‘sorry’ when she bumped into him at the main doors to the school, giggling when Kim gave her pigtails a playful tug as ‘punishment’. 

Marinette walked towards home, sorting out what she could eat that would be both quick and filling. “How long do you think I should nap for, Tikki?” 

Marinette’s purse clicked open and Tikki poked her head out, considering Marinette with serious eyes. “At least 2 hours. Maybe longer. You’re running on empty right now, Marinette, you can’t help anyone if you collapse.” 

Marinette nodded. “Okay. Can you tell Chat Noir’s kwami?” 

“Of course. Maybe Plagg can convince him to get some rest too.” 

Marinette nodded and returned her attention to the walk home as Tikki ducked back into her purse, clicking it closed again. 

Home. Eat. Sleep. Everything else could come lat- 

A shadow flashed over the ground in front of her. Marinette looked up fast, squinting against the westerning sun. That shadow had been distinctly human in shape. That meant it had to be Chat Noir or Shadowhawk, and Tikki had acted like she thought Chat wasn’t transformed yet, so that meant that Shadowhawk was… 

Marinette froze, eyes going wide, as she spotted the source of the shadow. 

That… wasn’t Shadowhawk. 

Leaping across the sky was someone in a blue tuxedo, a long scalloped cape billowing behind him, the interior iridescent cloth, the exterior made up of something green and… fuzzy? Maybe feathers? He passed between Marinette and the sun and Marinette lost him in the sunglare, and when she blinked her eyes clear, he was gone. 

She took off running for home. “Tikki! Tikki, tell Chat ot meet me at the school!” 

“What? But you were-” 

“Papillon has a second Champion!!”


	20. Chapter 20

Ladybug was relieved at how fast Chat Noir showed up on the school’s rooftop, offering him a weary smile as he landed beside her.

“Plagg said that you saw a second Champion?” 

“I was at the park-” 

Chat blinked, and frowned slightly. “The park?” 

Ladybug nodded, glad that Tikki had helped her come up with an excuse while they waited for Chat Noir for why she’d been where she was to wouldn’t risk revealing her identity. “I thought that maybe there might be something I missed on Sunday and I figured I could grab something to eat while I checked, then I’d go home and get some sleep.” 

Chat’s face cleared and he nodded, and then yawned, clapping a hand over his mouth. “Sorry. Went home to nap too.” 

Ladybug nodded, smothering a yawn of her own. “I think we should see if we can spot the new akumatized, but… we’re both dragging, and like you said before… we’re gonna mess up if we don’t sleep and that puts Adrien at risk.” 

Chat nodded. “So, we look around just to see if we get lucky, or if someone else in the park saw something or maybe recorded something… then go home and sleep, meet up to search tonight?” 

“That’s the plan,” Ladybug said with a smile and turned towards the park and froze, grabbing Chat’s arm with one hand, pointing towards the central clearing. 

Shadowhawk was in the park, examining the ground near the fountain, her back to the school and thus the two heroes. 

“Is she in range of your yoyo?” Chat Noir asked quietly. 

Ladybug nodded, carefully pulling yoyo off her hip, judging the angle. She threw the yoyo, and it raced through the air… 

And then Shadowhawk stepped to the side, not even turning her head to watch as the yoyo raced past her to strike and lasso the fountain. 

“Uh…” Chat Noir blinked a few times, tugging at his forelock. “Okay, what…” 

Shadowhawk took to the air… and flew straight to the school, making Ladybug and Chat Noir duck as she flew over them before landing on the rooftop behind them. 

Ladybug unhooked her yoyo from around the tree and had it back in her hand in the heartbeat it took her and Chat to spin around to face the Champion. “What do you want, Shadowhawk?” 

The silver-armored woman stared at the two heroes, the mark of Papillon flaring to life before her face. 

“I’ve come to bargain.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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Dr. Martin caught Adrien by the shoulders when he staggered, lost his grip on the LED lantern he’d been holding and almost fell, pulling him back against her, supporting him until he got his feet back under him. Dr. Martin lifted the second of the LED lanterns she’d grabbed when the two of them had escaped, looking back the way they’d come, but she couldn’t see or hear any signs of pursuit. Apparently despite spending more than two days heavily medicated and having nothing to eat, Adrien Agreste packed on HELL of a punch, and a truly devastating kick. 

When she’d managed to talk the kidnappers ( _or whatever they were_ ) into letting Adrien wake up and move around for a while for the boys health, she hadn’t been expecting the kid to recover as quickly as he did… or for him to literally lay out five adults. 

They’d made their escape, and while Dr. Martin had pulled up short when she’d realized they were in the catacombs, Adrien had been relieved and taken the lead. Ten minutes later and the energy that had been fueling the kid was wearing off, and his body was cashing all the checks he’d made. 

“Easy. Deep breaths. Do you need to sit down?” 

Adrien shook his head. “If I sit… not gonna be able to get up, Madame Martin.” He took a deep, shaky breath, face paling for a moment. “…I feel awful.” 

“That can happen if you’ve been kept under for a long while. You’re probably going to be shaky, and you might get sick, for a while.” 

Adrien made a distressed sound and gulped, then looked around to try and get his bearings. He gave a small nod and picked up the lantern he’d dropped. “Okay. This way, Madame.” He tried to take the lead, but only made it a few steps before he was staggering again, so Dr. Martin just caught him and balanced him as best she could as they worked their way through the tunnels. 

“Just call me Elizabeth, Adrien. …How do you know which way to go?” Adrien glanced up, and something about the expression on his face made Dr. Martin smile despite herself, THERE was a look she’d seen countless times before. “I won’t tell your Father, whatever it is.” 

“…I’ve explored the catacombs a lot. I actually know a lot of them, now.” 

Well, that was an unusual form of ‘teenage rebellion’. “You memorized the catacombs?” 

“I don’t think anyone could,” Adrien said, leaning against Dr. Martin, closing his eyes for a moment, even though he kept walking. “Got lucky, we’re in parts I marked.” 

“Marked?” 

Adrien opened his eyes and looked around for a moment. He led Dr. Martin to the nearest junction and pointed to a small mark that was at about level with his chest. Two very rough triangles with the points touching, underneath a line that narrowed down to a point. “See the line?” 

Dr. Martin nodded. 

“Narrow part points towards the way out. If it points up, go right, if it points down go left. It’ll always be on the right hand side of the wall at any junction…. ‘least any place I’ve been.” 

“Clever.” 

Adrien managed a weak smile at that, but lost it a second later when somewhere up behind them there came a faint crackle of a walkie-talkie and someone speaking in English. 

Damn. And however this lot were getting around, they likely had SOME sort of map of at least the section of the catacombs they were in. 

Adrien looked up at her… and moved one hand and signed. something... **::you::** something **::sign language::**

...Which if she filled in the gaps was probably 'do you know sign langauge'. 

**::Yes. I.::** ummm what was... **::Think. Sign.::** she held her thumb and pointer finger close together. **::Little?::**

Adrien blinked a few times, but then nodded. **::Good. We hear::** he pointed back down the tunnel. **::They hear. Sign?::**

Dr. Martin smiled. Clever kid. **::Yes. We out go.::**

Adrien nodded and the two set off again. Hopefully they could get out before those behind them caught up… or those that had gone out returned. 

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How had the day come to this? 

Ladybug looked at Chat Noir, but he looked completely pole-axed. So… that put it up to her? 

…She was exhausted, almost asleep on her feet. This was going to go horribly wrong so very, very quickly. 

“What bargain?” she asked, stepping forward slightly. 

“I seek a missing child, one that you seek. I offer a bargain: We work together to find and rescue him.” 

Ladybug’s eyes went wide. “Adrien?” 

Shadowhawk tilted her head ever so slightly. “Just so.” 

What… EVEN… 

“Why?” Chat Noir asked, stepping up to stand beside Ladybug. 

The Mark of Papillon flared to life again for a moment before fading. “I have my reasons, and he has his. Your interest in this matter, the odd behavior of the kidnappers to name two of Papillon’s reasons.” 

Chat crossed his arms. “We’ve helped search for missing people before. How soon into this bargain is the part where we start fighting and you go for our Miraculi?” 

“Never.” 

Chat and Ladybug exchanged glances. “What do you mean ‘never’?” Ladybug asked. 

“I am not here to fight, I am not after your Miraculi… or at least, I WILL NOT attempt to get them until after Adrien Agreste is found and rescued. I will not risk Adrien’s rescue, and your constant attempts to battle me have slowed my search to a crawl at best. If we work together, my…” Shadowhawk paused, then sighed. “My task is easier.” 

Was Shadowhawk someone who knew Adrien in real life? Maybe a friend? Maybe a family member like an aunt or cousin? Ladybug couldn’t remember, mind too fuzzy, if Adrien had any living family members outside of his father and mother. But… that would make sense, wouldn’t it? Adrien’s aunt found out that Adrien had been kidnapped and came to Paris from… uh… somewhere, and had gotten akumatized by Papillon… and her insistence on rescuing Adrien first was the deal she’d made. 

That made sense. That meant that, until Adrien was rescued, they could trust Shadowhawk… 

Kinda. 

Or at least trust her so long as they could keep watch over her. 

She looked to Chat, who offered a small shrug, then looked back to Shadowhawk. 

“Alright. It’s a bargain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shadowhawk, by the ever amazing [Dire](https://www.patreon.com/Dire_Hard/posts)!  
>   
> ~~~~~~  
> Edit: Did an edit so that Dr. Martin was not fully fluent in Sign. I will admit, since *I* am fluent and know many people who are, I forget that this is not the norm.  
> Fortuantly, Sharm pointed it out to me and she was right ^^  
> While Dr. Martin likely could/would know basic sign language, it's unlikely that she'd be highly fluent, hence making her stumble and be uncertain.
> 
> Related to this... Adrien, Nino, Juleka and Mylene are the only kids fluent in Sign Language in the 'lead' class. Sabrina and Alya know the very bare-bone basics.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Due to having plotted out some really vital world lore/future plot stuff during the Hiatus between season 1 and 2, I'm using a non canon name (and pronouns) for the Peacock kwami and to a lesser degree the Fox kwami as I can't change really without having heavy impact on said planned VITAL PLOT. So instead of a peahen named Duusu, it's a peacock named Regaal. (Trixx is still Trixx, just using female pronouns/voice like in the english dub)

“You are certain?”

“Yes, Master. Very certain. Regaal has crafted a bond with a new Chosen.” 

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose, and opened his eyes to aim a flat look at the white butterfly that had just landed on his hand. The akuma responded to the look by casually fluttering its wings, examining Gabriel’s hand with its tiny feet and antennae, fearless and curious. 

“You know, considering the work it took into getting you from my bathroom to my observatory, you could show a little respect.” 

A second akuma landed on his hand. 

“…I know you understand me.” 

The first akuma abandoned his hand to land on his nose. 

“…Nooroo, please control your akuma.” 

“It is a good thing that they do not fear you, Master,” Nooroo said as she flew over and gently herded the white spirits away. “As your connection to them strengthens, so too does what they can and will do for you, and so to will your connection to your Champions strengthen.” 

“Hmmph. To return to important matters… Am I correct in my assumption that, just as with the Ladybug and the Black Cat, you can not determine who the new Chosen is or where this first bond was sparked?” 

“You are correct, Master. Nor will I be able to sense any further transformations, unless the bond is broken and reforged.” 

Gabriel sighed. And no way to know where the Peacock Pin might have ended up given that it’d fallen into Adrien’s fencing bag. It could have fallen out anywhere along Adrien’s route, at the gym where he had his fencing classes, somewhere are the school… the possibilities were, sadly, limitless. 

So the situation stood as such. 

The grimoire lost and who knew where. Ladybug and Chat Noir seemingly suspected his identity, but his plan to protect his identity could not occur as matters stood. The Peacock Pin was not only lost, but had been found by an unknown person, turning one of the five most powerful Miraculi in existence into a wild card of unknown allegiances. 

And his son was missing - kidnapped! - injured, scared and alone and he couldn’t find him, couldn’t save him. 

He’d wonder how the situation could get any worse, but he was fairly certain it was already ‘worst’. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

They weren’t going to be able to escape. 

Adrien was too slow, his legs could barely hold him up and his head was spinning and there were kidnappers behind and ahead of them, no way for the both of them to go faster and maybe slip by those ahead of them. 

Adrien stumbled to a stop, leaning heavily against the wall, gulping back a wave of nausea as Dr Martin helped him stay on his feet. Adrien frowned as he looked ahead, then back. Wait. 

They couldn’t go faster. 

But Dr. Martin could. And the kidnappers were after HIM, not her. …and Adrien had a feeling that if the kidnappers caught up with them, Dr. Martin was going to be hurt, if not killed. 

They didn’t need her alive. 

They did need him alive. …Hopefully. 

**::You have to go.::**

**::I. What?::**

Adrien glanced back, then ahead and then spoke as softly as he could. “You have to go.” Adrien gulped and pointed down a dark, curving tunnel. “If you go down that and keep to the left wall for twenty minutes you will find a grate that you can push open. Then you can keep following my marks.” 

“I think you mean WE can do that.” 

Both of them looked up at a sudden surge of English from up ahead. Had they been heard? 

Adrien shook his head, wincing as that made the world spin, his knees buckling and he slid down to sit on the floor. This would be such a bad time to faint. **::Can not. They are after me, they will catch up. But they are not after you.::**

**::They. … Hurt. You. If-::**

“ They’ll kill you.” 

Dr. Martin winced, but didn’t argue the point. 

**::If you get out, you can get help… at least tell the police about the kidnappers and where they are…::** Adrien gulped back another wave of nausea, glancing to the left at the crackle of a walkie-talkie and voices speaking in rapid-fire, accent, English. Faster than he could follow with his head all mucky like this. 

The kidnappers were getting closer. 

Adrien looked up at Dr. Martin hopefully, blinking when she ducked down to her knees and grabbed his shoulders before talking quickly. 

“You stay alive. Understand? Help will come. So you stay alive.” 

Adrien nodded, watching as Dr. Martin headed into the tunnel, soon lost to sight. Okay. That was the civilian rescued. Now… what about himself? 

His head was spinning, even sitting down. He was close to collapse or fainting, if not straight up passing out cold. Couldn’t stay put, because the kidnappers might go down the tunnel Dr. Martin had just used… couldn’t go do the tunnel himself either, even though one of his best hidey-holes was there. He might lead the kidnappers to Dr. Martin before she could escape, and… and to be honest he was terrified of the idea of passing out in the little hidden nook and never being found or waking up. Another skeleton in the dark. 

A sharp burst of English had Adrien’s head jerking away from the wall his eyes snapping open as he jolted out of the doze he’d fallen into. Ugh. How long had he sat there? 

Long enough for the stone to leech a lot of his body heat away, leaving him cold and stiff. 

Adrien managed to get back to his feet and started following his marks carefully. The tunnel was one of the newer paths he’d found last year. His old path was still ahead of him. Not much dust here, and he didn’t see any foot prints so this would… probably… work. He could tell the kidnappers that Dr. Martin had gone her own way right off the bat or something. 

Getting captured by his kidnappers, especially after knocking 5 of them out, was not a fun prospect. Adrien’s hand met empty air instead of stone wall and a second later, Adrien hit the ground, hard enough to drive the air out of his lungs and make stars dance in his vision. 

…but sneaking past them wasn’t an option, was it? 

Adrien pushed himself up to his knees and leaned back against the wall. Okay. So… did he have any options? 

… 

Not really. Sooner or later ( _and to be frank, it’d be sooner_ ) he was going to be caught, probably threatened, questioned and dragged back to the kidnappers… room? Headquarters? Adrien gulped, staring at the lantern, running his fingers over the cool metal and tinted plastic of the Chat Calicot ring Alya had given him for his plan. 

Adrien offered a weak laugh, tears falling. His plan. Should have worked… probably would have worked, if he hadn’t decided to be clever and go and try to find the book before going home. It’d been simple and clean. Give Nino the Miraculous, the wig and contacts Plagg had stolen... borrowed... from Chloé, and makeup so Nino would match Adrien’s skintone… the glamour would do the rest. Plagg had promised that the same magic that kept their masks on would keep the wig on and make-up from smearing or rubbing off. Plagg had said that he could keep others from sensing that he’d forged a new bond too, even if he’d complained about how much work it would take. 

Chat Nino would show up at Adrien’s house in the morning, Adrien would interact with ‘Chat Noir’ and that would clear his father’s suspicions. Then Adrien would have either found an excuse to go out of the house or just snuck out of the house and ‘Chat’ would have dropped by or been in the area and they’d have interacted for a bit where lots of people would see it, and that would have thrown Papillon off his trail. 

It was simple and straight forward and… and even if Plagg had hated it… Adrien sniffed and scrubbed the tears from his eyes. 

He wished Plagg was here. Not even because that could mean he could transform and be safe and get away… but just because then he wouldn’t be alone and Plagg would care and talk and help. He gulped back the terror. He wasn’t… really used to being alone anymore. He’d gotten used to Plagg being there. Alone was… something he’d thought he’d never have to be again. 

But the ring was fake, and Plagg was far away. 

And the voices and walkie-talkie chatter were getting closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chat Nino, by the ever amazing [Dire](https://www.patreon.com/Dire_Hard/posts)!  
> 


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day late, so have a chapter that is roughly double length^^

Ladybug was too exhausted to deal with this.

But it was too important a matter to just say ‘hey, I’m asleep on my feet, can we take a rain check for 6 hours in the future?’ or the like. Plus, she really didn’t like the idea of showing weakness in front of a Champion and by extension Papillon. Given the way Chat Noir was being so quiet and cautious, so unlike himself, she had a feeling he felt the same way she did. 

Shadowhawk, for her part, simply seemed to decide that now that she could do… what-ever it was she WAS doing without having to constantly be interrupted and retreat, headed down to the park again, Ladybug and Chat Noir following in her wake. 

Ladybug stood with her arms crossed, watching Shadowhawk with extreme caution. Chat, rather than standing by her side, paced the park, tail lashing and occasionally muttering softly to himself. 

Shadowhawk ignored the pacing Chat Noir and the glaring Ladybug, and walked the length of the park before focusing on the area that Adrien had been kidnapped in. She examined the ground, the bushes, and the fountain… pulling the flashlight out of its holster on her right hip and shining the red tinted light over the areas she was examining. The process took what felt like hours, Ladybug having to resort to clenching her jaw to stifle yawns before finally joining Chat in pacing a bit to try and stay awake and alert, then finally finding a bench to sit down on because her legs felt too wobbly. 

Minutes kept dragging by, and Shadowhawk kept examining the area, and Ladybug found herself slowly zoning out, closing her eyes for just a second- 

“Alright. That’s got it.” 

Ladybug jumped slightly, startled out of the doze she didn’t remember falling into and had to blink her eyes clear before she saw that Chat was standing next to her, apparently guarding her as she napped. He gave her a lopsided smile when she stared up at him, then nodded towards the center of the park, where Shadowhawk was standing, looking at the heroic duo. 

“That’s got what?” 

Shadowhawk looked at Ladybug, tilting her helm, then looked back to the center of the park. “This is where the kidnapping took place. Now I know how it happened.” 

Ladybug got to her feet- about to ask why Shadowhawk had needed to examine the park to know that -before the fact that there was NO WAY that Shadowhawk could have watched the security footage, and at most she could have only threatened a description of it from Adrien’s bodyguard… and that only if she knew sign language. Movement at the edge of the park made her glance to the side, to find three or four police offers standing, watching the trio with worried eyes. Chat rested a hand on Ladybug’s shoulder. “I told them about our… bargain… and that – for the time being, until Adrien is rescued – she’s our ally.” 

Ladybug nodded, smiling faintly. “Thank you, Chat.” 

Chat Noir nodded with another lopsided smile, then his left cat-ear flicked and he looked up at Shadowhawk. “Okay, so… that’s what you’ve been doing the last day or two?” Chat asked, frowning. “Following Adrien’s trail?” 

“What little I could, yes. I lost his trail shortly after he would have left the mansion.” 

Chat subtly relaxed, and the fact suddenly occurred to Ladybug that the answer to ‘where was Adrien for most of the night?’ might be something as simple as ‘Adrien had met up with Chat Noir to help in some way with Chat’s plan’. …Actually, thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. Adrien was a model and had access to lots of make-up and hair products and Chat did look… a little… bit like Adrien. Ladybug remembered when Alya had done a horrible photoshopping job to put Chat’s costume on a picture of Adrien and even though it was SO obvious that someone as cool as Adrien couldn’t be a punning dork like her Chat, there was SOME similarity. So, the plan had probably been to have Chat get Adrien ungrounded ( _which meant Marinette had been an unwitting pawn in part of the plan, which… HRMPH!_ ) then Adrien would make himself look like whoever Chat really was and interact with Chat somewhere really public, which would have thrown Papillon off Chat’s trail. 

… 

Wait. 

No, it couldn’t be that, because that plan required Adrien knowing what Chat looked like as a civilian, and there was NO WAY that was true, if for no other reason than Chat knew how important keeping their identities secret was, so he would never just casually tell someone who he really was and put the civilian at risk like that. 

…Well, it was possible that Chat could do Adrien’s make-up and stuff without Adrien knowing WHO Chat ‘was’… Like he’d know roughly what Chat looked like un-transformed but wouldn’t know Chat’s real name or real identity or something. 

AUGH, she was too tired to deal with this and there was no way it was right anyway! Ladybug mentally shoved the idea and the questions it raised to the back of her head ( _where it joined worries over Chat’s unwilling declaration of love due to Sans Sheriff, Master Fu and the grimoire, Solider and the fact that Ladybug was not immune to mind control, Alya knowing what kwamis were, and so many other things… It felt, in a way, like she was running out of room… sooner or later she would have to start to really address – really think – about these things instead of just tucking them away and hoping they’d solve themselves and go away_ ). 

“So, what was with going to the dumps?” she demanded, more to distract herself than anything. 

“The most likely option for where Adrien was over the course of the many hours he was… off radar… was to have gone to one of the dumps that takes in the waste from the city and processes it to try and find an item that he took from his father and then had taken from him by another student.” 

Oh. Yeah, that did make sense. …Actually, it made more sense than the weird idea she’d had about Adrien pretending to be Chat’s ‘civilian self’. 

“So, you… what, scanned the area with your flashlight? How does that work?” Chat Noir asked. 

Shadowhawk tilted her head again. “Red light provides greater contrast, so I see more details. It also, currently, allows me to do this.” She pulled the flashlight out and adjusted the head, then shined the light over the park… and the light left holograms in its wake. 

_‘…Okay.’_ Ladybug thought as she watched a holographic replay of Adrien’s kidnapping. _‘I’m gonna lay good odds that THAT is Shadowhawk’s akumatized item.’_

The holograms were only rough, human in shape but lacking in detail, only really displaying what was likely Shadowhawk’s best guess of their height and mass, and it surprised Ladybug how quickly the ‘scene’ played out. It had felt longer, when she’d first seen it on camera, but now… it was over so quickly. A minute for the actual kidnapping, less than ten for the clean up. 

“So, what now?” Chat asked as the holograms faded away. 

“Now we have two options. We follow the van that had Adrien in it, or we follow the clean-up crew, since they left on foot.” 

“We know where the van ended up,” Ladybug said. “And these people seem to have known about the security cameras in the area, and we’ve been working with the police and they said they couldn’t track those that stayed behind-something about blindspots.” 

“Hm. And I would prefer to focus on Adrien in any case. …Take me to where the van was, then.” 

How she wished she could say ‘no’ and just go SLEEP. 

But she couldn’t, not yet. All she could do was hope that Tikki could give her the same energy boost that she’d gotten on Sunday, and that that would be enough to make it through this. 

“Sure. Follow me.” 

Ladybug slid her yoyo off her hip and threw it at the buildings across the street, then gave it a tug, and soon was racing over the rooftops of Paris, Shadowhawk following in the air, and Chat Noir trailing behind. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

He was so tired. 

Chat landed heavily on all fours in front of the parking garage, almost falling to his knees before he pushed himself to his feet and followed Ladybug and Shadowhawk down the ramp. 

Sleep. He wanted to sleep. Needed to sleep. 

#“Hey. Stay awake!”# 

Chat jerked, cat-ears flicking. 

#“I mean it. I know you’re tired, but you have to stay awake. You have to guard Ladybug’s back.”# 

Chat smiled at the voice in his ear. “Thank you, Alya,” he said as quietly as he could. “I don’t think I could have done even half of this without you.” 

#“You bet your cute butt you couldn’t. I’m just glad that your baton’s got a blue-tooth option. I wonder how often Chat and Ladybug have used it?”# 

Chat Noir leaned against the wall, offering a idunno noise, watching as Shadowhawk examined the place where the kidnappers original van had been, Ladybug keeping a close watch. She kept glancing over at him, her eyes both worried and exhausted. 

Covering for him, like he had for her at the park. 

But neither of them could keep this up. They needed sleep. Even with Alya as a voice in his ear and Plagg giving him energy – a burning star in his chest – it wasn’t enough. 

“Hmm. Their second van had an faint oil leak,” Shadowhawk said, shining her light on the floor of the parking garage. 

“Can you track that?” Ladybug asked 

“Yes.” 

#“Hey. Been doing searches based off what she’s let slip and stuff. So do me a favor, ask her if her name is where she was trained.”# 

Chat blinked at the odd request as he pushed off the wall, walking behind Shadowhawk as the two heroes and akumatized Champion left the parking garage and began to move along the streets of Paris. An odd request… how to ask it? …Ugh too tired to be clever, he’d have to just go for blunt. “Were you trained at shadowhawk?” 

Shadowhawk froze and looked back over her shoulder at Chat Noir, and he could just see that her eyes were wide in either shock or surprise behind her tinted visor. 

Chat met her stare, keeping his expression as blank as he could. 

“…Yes. I was.” 

#“It’s a tracking school in the UK, one of the best in the world. Also one of the few that has classes that specialize in mantracking. Small though, not a lot of professional trackers in the world and stuff. …Which means I should be able to find out who Shadowhawk really is… uh. Maybe. School has like NOTHING online in documents, they probably won’t tell me student names if I called… but maybe someone in the Paris area has ‘trained at shadowhawk’ in their online portfolio.”# 

Chat nodded his head. “I heard it’s one of the best.” 

“Yes. It is.” 

Ladybug looked back and forth between Shadowhawk and Chat Noir, looking utterly baffled. When Shadowhawk finally turned around and started walking down the road again, Ladybug waited until Chat caught up with her, then poked his shoulder and raised her eyebrows at him. 

“I’ll explain later,” Chat whispered, nodding towards Shadowhawk. 

Ladybug nodded and the two walked quietly behind Shadowhawk for several minutes, and both blinked, blushing slightly, when Shadowhawk suddenly started cursing a blue streak. 

“What’s wrong?” Ladybug asked. 

“Lost the trail,” Shadowhawk muttered, glaring at the road. 

“Okay. Well, it’s still something. Let’s stop for now. We’ll meet up tomorrow evening, say at around 6pm. That gives Chat and I time to contact the police to see if they can find the van that was used on the security footage of some of the places we went through, and gives them time to go THROUGH the footage and maybe track the van to where-ever they went.” 

_‘And it gives Ladybug and I time to sleep tonight and go to school tomorrow,’_ Chat added in the privacy of his own mind. 

Shadowhawk considered that for a moment, but then nodded. “Agreed.” She pulled a cell phone out of a pouch on the back of her belt. “In case either I or you discover something prior to that, let me give you my contact information.” 

The heroes stared at the phone. “You have your cellphone?” Ladybug demanded. 

#“She whatta what whattery?!”# 

“It’s a burner phone.” 

…What was this day? Would it make more sense if he wasn’t dead on his feet? Chat and Ladybug pulled their magical items off their suits and entered the phone number into their contact lists. 

The moment that was done, Shadowhawk raced skywards, then darted north and soon after that, she was out of sight. 

The two heroes looked at each other. #“If the badguy is gone, ask about the second akumatized! That’s WHY you two met up!!”# Alya shouted in Chat’s ear. 

“Uh, right. …Ladybug, you said you saw a second akumatized outside the school, what-” 

Ladybug held a hand up. “No. It can wait. We need sleep. I don’t know about you but I’m ready to collapse. We can meet up tomorrow during lunch, on top of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre Church.” 

Chat nodded. “Right. Take care, okay?” 

Ladybug nodded and used her yoyo to get to the rooftops and headed to the south. Chat sagged, then headed for home. It seemed to take forever, and he collapsed onto his bed without bothering to detransform or even go through the front door. No one would be home yet anyway. “Alya. Gonna sleep now. Kay?” 

#“Okay. Sleep well. I’m probably gonna hit the hay soon too.”# 

Chat offered a vague uh-huh sound. “Plagg. Detransform me.” 

Black motes and green light raced up Chat Noir’s form, leaving and Nino, already asleep, in its wake. 

Plagg stared at the sleeping kid, then went to dig through the kid’s sock drawer until he found the two bags of camembert Nino had hidden there. He sat down and started gulping it down. _~Tikki?~_

_~Hi, Plagg. Glad Nino got home safely.~_

_~Yeah he’s already out like a light.~_

_~Marinette is too. …It’s weird. Times past we would be working with the Butterfly’s Champions as a matter of course… Now it feels weird.~_

_~Yeah, it does. …Look, we gotta talk. About Adrien, about Papillon, about the akumatized... and about the Peacock. Does the buglet have the see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil necklace on?~_

_~Yes, she does. And yes, that means that it’s safe for me to leave her for a bit. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be there, okay?~_

_~Okay. See you then, Tikki.~_

Plagg let the connection drop and went back to eating his cheese, staring blankly at the sleeping Nino.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the VERY long delay. My hip dislocated on the 11th and I've been ill as well and couldn't manage to sit down and WRITE until a few days ago.  
> I'm going to try to get the next chapter out by the 24th, wish me luck (and maybe new hips)

Plagg looked up when Tikki phased through the window of Nino’s room and came to sit beside him. “Hey, Tikki. Sorry about the no Offerings for you thing.”

Tikki smiled and landed beside Plagg. “It’s okay. …How are you holding up?” 

“I’m fine. I mean I’m not getting the quality of cheese that I’m used to, but-” 

“Plagg.” 

Plagg fell silent, then sighed softly. “I want to find Adrien. I want to find him soon… I want to have found him days ago. I want for him to have never have come up with his stupid plan.” 

Tikki scooted a bit closer to Plagg and hugged him tight, smiling sadly when Plagg hugged her back. They stayed like that for several minutes, until Plagg finally relaxed and leaned back. “The plan was decent enough… if there hadn’t been kidnappers Adrien would have only have been at a little risk.” 

Plagg hrrmphed, and Tikki smiled. “We’ll find him, Plagg, and we’ll save him. I promise. I’m going to remind-” she paused and glanced at the sleeping Nino, frowning. Who knew how heavily, or lightly, he slept. “Um. I’m going to remind my Chosen that she can summon a Lucky Charm, and from there the Restoration, for any fight.” 

Plagg frowned. “You’re expecting a fight?” 

Tikki sighed. “Something in the way Shadowhawk is acting… in the way Papillon is acting… makes me think that there will be one. We might as well use it to our advantage.” 

“Did you pick up her aura?” 

Tikki nodded. “I can’t detect auras as well as Wayzz, but even I can tell that Papillon did not overcharge her akuma as he’s been doing until now. Shadowhawk lacks that… electrical edge that-” 

“She isn’t being fried by her own power,” Plagg said bluntly. “We’ve gotten lucky.” 

Tikki winced but nodded. “We’ve gotten very lucky, to be honest. Overcharged akumatized might have longer than someone for whom we dance in Unison, but their own power will eventually kill them… Spy lasted longer than most, I wonder if his akuma was not over-charged as well?” 

“Could be. He was all about stealth so no way to know if the lack of fried aura was no-overcharge or just him being sneaky.” 

“Any ideas on why Papillon is doing… well… this?” 

“Not a one,” Plagg admitted. “He must have some reason, though who knows what it could be… D’you think he could be my Kid’s dad? I mean, there IS the whole thing with the book and the pin…” 

“Could be. Fu, my Chosen, Wayzz, and I talked about that a bit… feels like almost half a year ago, now. There is some evidence for it, but there is also just as much against. Papillon’s apparent concern, though, is strong evidence for… unless he’s doing it because he still suspects Chat Noir is Adrien and this is just a continuation of trying to prove it, an evolution from Spy.” 

Plagg nodded. “Or as long as he isn’t in it to try and get something out of whoever these kidnappers are.” 

“The kidnappers ARE… odd. If Papillon is after them it would make sense, or at least would match up with his usual plans, so far as we understand them at least. Perhaps he wants an alliance with whoever leads them? Maybe he just wants to use them for his own purposes.” Tikki groaned and rubbed at her face. “There are just too many variables, too much pointing one way and too much pointing the other. I just wish there was a way that we could know what was really going on, have all the details.” 

“You and me both, Tikki. …Speaking of not having all the information…” 

“Why did I tell you not to tell Nino about the Regaal forming a new bond when we felt it happen on Monday?” 

Plagg nodded. “You said you had a reason.” 

“You stole the pin, and Adrien wasn’t aware of you doing so, at least not at first. …and my Chosen knows that the Peacock Pin was where the book was – the book that Adrien stole.” Tikki sighed. “And I couldn’t think of a way to explain it to my Chosen without accidently revealing that Adrien is Chat Noir, not at the time at least.” 

“We COULD just let them know wo the other is, you know.” 

Tikki just kept talking, pretending that Plagg hadn’t said a word. “To start it’s so much to explain, really. I still haven’t really had a chance to fully explain that we can sense the first time another kwami sparks a bond between themselves and a new Chosen or… a lot of other things.” 

“Fine. So whattaya want to do?” 

“I’m thinking that we’ll tell them that Adrien might have been suspicious of the pin, or maybe saw the Peacock page in the book and regonized it… Whichever Adrien feels more comfortable with, I know he’s not the best liar.” 

“More like he’s the worst liar in Paris, if not in France.” 

Tikki smiled. “All the more reason to keep it simple then. And once we have that part, the rest is the truth anyway.” 

Plagg nodded. “He had it and lost it at some point during the day. I’m guessing you’ll tell your kid that it took a bit for you to sort out the energy or that you had to see the new Chosen or something?” 

Tikki shrugged. “Probably.” 

“I’m gonna tell my kid the truth.” 

“Plagg!” 

“I already told you the only thing I’m gonna keep secret from him that’s actually IMPORTANT is who the buglet is.” 

“But you DO keep stuff secret from him.” 

“Only stuff that’s FUN… or means less work that I don’t need to do… or gets me extra cheese. Same for half-truths and stuff.” 

“Plagg,” Tikki groaned, then switched the subject. “Never mind. Where do you think it was actually lost? …And why did Adrien still have it for it to be lost?” 

“Well, the ‘why he still had it’ is because…” Plagg groaned and slumped in embarrassment. “I forgot how out of it I get when I contain the energy of crafting a new bond. I forgot to take it out of Adrien’s pocket before Nino transformed the first time. After the transformation and keeping anyone from detecting the new bond… I was almost too exhausted to move or eat after it, let alone really think straight. By the time I could string a though together, Adrien had headed off.” 

“Hmmm. So it must have been lost after that.” 

Plagg nodded. “I’m thinking the park’s the most likely option, cause of all the stuff that fell out when Adrien used his overshirt to cover his mouth and nose. Lots of stuff fell when he did that, like his allergy meds.” 

Tikki groaned and flopped onto her back. “But that doesn’t narrow it down at all!” she complained. “There were so many people that would have gone through the park and might have picked up the Peacock Pin before you and I were there… It might even have still been there after we were there if it was somewhere we couldn’t see it.” She scrubbed at her face with her hands. “I can’t think of a worse place for it to have been lost!” 

“Could be worse.” 

“How?!” 

“I don’t know, but it could be,” Plagg said with a shrug. “So I’m gonna guess the plan is just tell ‘em that the blue one wasn’t an akumatized but the Peacock Chosen? …and that we’ve got no idea who it is or what side the Peacock will stand on?” 

Tikki sighed and nodded and pushed off the table to hover in the air, darting back to give Plagg a tight hug. “I’m going back to M- my Chosen, I need to recharge and sleep. Will you be alright?” 

Plagg returned the hug. “I should be. Get going. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day.”


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody know a place where I can trade in my body for a new model? This one is giving me too much grief. :/  
> Gonna try to get the next chapter up soon. I can't make ANY promises about dates, not with still fighting off a vicous bout of flu and my hip being a royal pain.
> 
> I can say that I am going to have more of the next fic prepped before I start posting it to avoid this happening again.
> 
> ~~~~~~
> 
> I forgot to mention this!!! (Sorry, just been ill and hurting and in such a rush to get the chapter UP that I forgot I didn't have this link present!!!)  
> Yvi-sama is doing a podcast of Madame Mort!!!  
> [Check it out!!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012505/chapters/32269548)
> 
> This is SO amazing, and I can't thank you enough, Yvi-sama!!

There was nothing but cold stone and brick.

“Marinette!”

She ran through hallways and tunnels that she didn’t know, black openings to yawning space that were sensed rather than seen, over tile and metal roofs of buildings sunk deep into the stone, all while… nothing chased her.

It wasn’t a lack of threat, it was a lack of… existence that hounded her, a hungry echoing gap in memory, a roaring void that consumed and negated all that it touched.  It had already stolen… something… from her.  She knew there were blank spots where memory should be, but she didn’t know WHAT she had lost, and-

“Marinette!!”

Marinette sat up fast, soaked in a cold sweat.

She was in her bed.  No stone halls, just the pink walls of her bedroom and downstairs the faint sounds of her mother getting dressed and ready for the day, and softer than that the sounds of her father down in the bakery.  Calm, quiet and everyday normal.

Tikki hovered in front of her, worried.  “Marinette?  Are you awake?”

Marinette gulped down a few breaths and nodded.  She was awake.  And this nightmare hadn’t gone on as long as the last one.  She glanced at her clock and sighed softly.  Half past four in the morning.  Stupidly early, but at least she’d gotten…  Marinette frowned, too sleep fuddled to do the math…  Well, probably more than six hours of sleep.  She hugged her knees, resting her chin on them as she concentrated on calming down, smiling weakly when Tikki landed on her shoulder.

“The same nightmare?”

Marinette nodded.  Same one she’d been having since Mnemosyne, although they’d become more frequent after Soldier, and now sometimes instead of the rooftops of Paris being chased by a memory devouring ‘nothing’ she was in the catacombs… In hindsight, looking up pictures of the Catacombs hadn’t been her best plan, now her sleeping mind had something to work with instead of just vague mining tunnels.

“Tikki?”

“Yes, Marinette?”

“Is there… is there a way to get back memories that you lost?”

Tikki was silent for several minutes, long enough that Marinette’s heart stopped racing and the sweat dried on her body.  Long enough that she finally turned her head to look at her kwami in confusion.

Tikki was frowning, deep in thought, staring off into the distance.  She finally sighed and shook her head.  “There’s no way I can remember.  You have to understand, Marinette, that the Butterfly is usually our ally.  It has been a very, very long time since last we fought him.”

“But if the Butterfly is usually a good guy… what do you usually fight?”

“Many things.  Spirits, mortals, magic users, and-”

“But there must be other things that can steal memories, how else could you know that I was vulnerable to it like Chat is?”

“Well… yes…”

“So there has to be a solution for it.”

Tikki sighed and shook her head.  “Nothing is that simple, Marinette.  I’m sorry.”

Marinette huffed, plunking her chin back on her knees.  No, there HAD to be a solution.  There was always a solution.  …Maybe the solution was dangerous, and Tikki was trying to protect Marinette.  Well, she’d find a way to talk to Master Fu.  Maybe he could tell her.  And if the solution WAS too dangerous… well, then she would be okay with not getting her memories back.  But at least she would be able to make a decision on her own instead of someone making the decision for h-

Tikki jumped suddenly.  “Oh!”

“Tikki?”

“Shadowhawk is trying to call you!”

“Oh shoot!  Tikki, transform me!”

“Nonono wait!” Tikki yelped as she was pulled off Marinette’s shoulder and spiraled towards the earrings. “You have t-!” 

Oh shoot, that had sounded important, but – Ladybug jumped as her yoyo rang – she couldn’t detransform to see what Tikki had been going to say without Tikki needing to recharge before she could transform again. 

She’d just have to do her best.  Ladybug stood up on her bed and started to push the skylight open as her yoyo rang again, then froze.

No, she couldn’t risk it.

If Shadowhawk was in the park again, or at the school or anywhere nearby, she might spot Ladybug as she climbed onto her balcony.   But she couldn’t just stay in her room, could she?

Ladybug frowned at her clock, biting her lips and shifting nervously as her yoyo rang a third time.  Well, wait, why couldn’t she?  It would be a couple of hours at least before Maman would wake her up. 

Still, better safe than sorry.  Ladybug laid down on her bed and pulled her blankets up and over her head to make a little tent.  She pulled her yoyo off her hip as it rang again and slid it open, nodding when she saw Chat’s icon already lit up beside the akuma icon.  Okay, apparently Tikki had meant it when she’d said that the Butterfly had been an ally before, because why else would Tikki even HAVE an ‘akuma’ icon for calls?  …wait, when had Tikki last been active?  Had their magic items ALWAYS had call and maps and other functions?  How long had phones even been a thing? …auuuugh it was too early for this!!  Grumbling to herself, she tapped the icons, holding the yoyo up to her ear.  “Yes, Shadowhawk?”

#“My… apologies for calling you both so early, but I have discovered information of a most pressing nature.  I need you both to meet me at the Préfecture de Police of the 16th Arrondissement.  Now.”#


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentioning this again because OH MY GOSH THIS IS SO AMAZING!!  
> Yvi-sama is doing a podfic of Madame Mort!!!  
> [Check it out!! SHe's got two chapters up now!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012505/chapters/32269548)
> 
> This is SO amazing, and I can't thank you enough, Yvi-sama!!

This was not how she had thought her day had been going to go. At least she still had – Ladybug glanced at her yoyo – two more hours before she was due to wake up, and she had had the sense to leave a note on the kitchen table saying she’d had breakfast and left ‘a bit early’.  Hopefully Sabine would think that she simply hadn’t seen Marinette leave – morning was always busy after all, if anything it was the busiest time of day.

At least she’d gotten some sleep before everything had gone pear-shaped.

Ladybug wished she could pace, or move around, or SOMETHING.

But no, she couldn’t. 

She had to keep a careful eye on their ‘ally’, who knelt at the edge of the roof, attention focused on the Préfecture.  She trusted Shadowhawk as far as she could throw her…  Ladybug frowned and amended that mentally.  She trusted Shadowhawk as far as she could throw her if she was Marinette and not Ladybug.  She crossed her arms, staring down at the rooftop of the Préfecture, mulling the situation over.

Inside the Préfecture was someone who Shadowhawk claimed had been kidnapped alongside Adrien who had managed to escape.  She wasn’t really sure HOW Shadowhawk knew that.  Maybe Papillon?  Although that did bring up the issue of how Papillon had known.  It could be magic, it could be something as mundane as he was paying people off, or maybe it was something like Shadowhawk had tapped the police radio or something.

Ladybug wanted to be in there.  She wanted answers, she wanted information, she wanted – a lot of things, but she knew that if she went in there, she wasn’t going to be able to keep it under control.  Not after so many days of nothing and heartache and fear and confusion.

Chat tended to handle that sort of thing better.  He especially was good at being quiet and supportive of people that got caught up in the chaos of the situation, where Ladybug was never real sure what to do beyond smile and be brave and in control.  It meant that she handled the press and interviews and media better than Chat, but for what the situation (probably) was, Chat was the better option.

Plus, her being outside meant that she could keep an eye on Shadowhawk, make certain this wasn’t a ruse to let Shadowhawk go off on her own or some other kind of trick.  Because there HAD to be a trick.  Something she wasn’t seeing.  Something she didn’t know.

Well, okay she already knew there were things she didn’t know (and wasn’t THAT annoying) about Shadowhawk.  She had no idea who Shadowhawk really was, what Shadowhawk wanted or what Shadowhawk could do.  She hadn’t had time to see if Adrien had any other family members or family friends who could be Shadowhawk, and if Shadowhawk wasn’t related to Adrien of friends with Adrien, why was she doing this?  Was it something she wanted to do?  Was it something PAPILLON wanted her to do?  And what was that whole ‘trained at shadowhawk’ thing about?  …Uuuugh she hadn’t had a chance to find out what THAT was either due to needing sleep.

Sleep that had been interrupted first by nightmares, then by Shadowhawk calling her, and now by keeping watch on an enemy she had to treat as an ally while Chat found out what he could inside and what WAS WRONG WITH HER CHAT ANYWAY?!

Ladybug groaned scrubbing at her face.  He was off.  Way off.  Really, freaky, something was wrong in the worst possible way off and all the WORSE by the fact that she couldn’t PLACE HOW.  To make it even worse and weirder, she couldn’t figure out how Chat knew that stuff about Shadowhawk and ‘studying at shadowhawk’ and lots of other little things that were honestly building up way too fast but didn’t add up to a whole that made any sense and-

…wait.

Lots of things that should make sense but refused to do so.

Uuuuuuugh, it was the glamour kicking in wasn’t it?  Tikki had mentioned something like this the few times she and Marinette had talked about the glamour, and how it made the mind skip tracks, even when you were AWARE that it was skipping.  …Actually, she really needed to sit down with Tikki and just…  find out exactly what the Glamour was, how it worked, if there were any weak spots she should be aware of with it, and-

…and it was making her skip track WHILE she was trying to think about how it made her skip and how was that fair?!

Ladybug stomped a foot, grumbling to herself. 

Shadowhawk shifted and looked over her shoulder at Ladybug for a moment, then returned her attention to the Préfecture.  The qualms and quirks of superheroes were not her concern.  Her only concern was the rescue of Adrien Agreste.  All other points were secondary, to be considered and addressed once the vital matter was solved.

Other points. 

Hm.  There were several, were there not?

The matter of the kidnappers who were, or who they might be.  The one in charge seemed to be American, making it likely at least some of the others were as well, given how well they had worked together for the kidnapping itself, as well as their prep work and clean-up.  Which likely meant whoever paid for them was American as well. 

What their demands to Papillon had been, the implication that their… hm - Owner?  Commander?  Master? - suspected who Papillon truly was.  Papillon rarely left his home, and had only been to a select few cities elsewhere in the world, which limited possible suspects with direct interactions if nothing else.  Granted, the company he ran was massive and world spanning… so there were factors present there-in where someone could have begun to suspect…

The demands in particular were of concern.  Concerns that, hopefully, Papillon would consider and begin dealing with.

The matter of where Adrien had gone the night he had been kidnapped.  There were several hours for which he was unaccounted for, and Shadowhawk was no closer to where he had been now than she had been at the start, and it was likely that unless Adrien told anyone where he had been and what he had been doing that would remain a mystery.

Both Shadowhawk and Ladybug looked up, distracted from their thoughts, as Chat Noir left the Préfecture.  He looked up and around, getting his bearings, then used his baton to get up to the rooftop.

“So-” Ladybug began, but stopped when Chat lifted a hand up.

“The doctor that was kidnapped earlier was kidnapped by the same people that took Adrien.  She managed to escape.  She came to the first Préfecture she could find to tell them everything she could… and the police told me everything they could.  …We’re going to the catacombs.  It’s time to rescue Adrien.”


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, despite a relapse of the flu and a nasty dislocation of my hip... I still managed to get the chapter done! (Late, but still!!)
> 
> We're in the home stretch now!

“I thought you knew the catacombs?”

Chat blinked and looked up from where he was studying the wall, turning to look at Ladybug and Shadowhawk.  “Oh, I do, it’s just…”  he hesitated, ears flattening as he thought fast.  He DIDN’T know the Catacombs.  That was Adrien.  Nino had never been in the catacombs before now, let alone ‘know them’.  But the thing was, Chat Noir knew them, and Ladybug knew that.  …alright.  He could do this.  Just come up with something quick and above all basic.  Simple would pass where complex would not.

“I do, but I don’t know this part as well.  …And if we don’t backtrack Adrien’s marks we won’t be able to find where the kidnappers are.  There’s lots of different tunnels and paths.”

Ladybug frowned, but finally nodded without saying anything. 

Chat mentally winced, hoping it wouldn’t show on his face before he turned back to examine the wall.  He had a feeling that Adrien was going to have an interesting time of it, once he was back to being Chat instead of Nino.   …Interesting in the Chinese Curse meaning at that.  He had to remember to do his absolute best to fill Adrien in on EVERYTHING that he’d missed…  maybe Plagg would be willing to help.  Nino could buy some of the REALLY high end cheeses, even if it used up all of his allowance.  A nice big bribe was bound to help, right?

Chat refocused on the carving in the wall.  Sort it out AFTER his best bro was rescued.

Alright.  The line pointed THAT way, so they need to goooooo…

“This way.”

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“They’re not on the rooftop anymore, dad.”

Roger sighed softly.  “I know.  Chat Noir remembered the promise he made to me at the start of this and called to let me know that the three of them were heading into the catacombs to rescue Adrien.  I’ve already dispatched the ‘rescue’ team I had prepped to try to catch up and help… or at least follow them.” 

To help if they could… and capture the kidnappers and bring them in for questioning when the heroes were done – hopefully after they ‘saved’ the day.  That would likely be it for the heroes, after all.  Rescue Adrien, maybe use the Miraculous Restoration, and perhaps check in with the police when all was said and done, check in when Adrien hopefully got checked at the hospital and talk to Gabriel so that hopefully the kid got any help he might need dealing with this trauma.  Roger and his people would deal with everything else.  All the minutiae, the dealing with the people that did this, finding out why and who as best they could, trying to close gaps in security to prevent it from happening – not just to this one person but to anyone else.  And now the added complication…  trying to find a way of contacting Papillon to see if, maybe, the next time a kid was kidnapped the police could rely on the aid instead of hindrance from a supervillain.  …That part was going to be fun to figure out the paperwork and reports for. 

Sabrina perked up, and Roger couldn’t help but smile.  It was nice to see his daughter happy and hopeful again, after nearly 5 days of worry, even if the logistics of trying to work with and wrangle two vigilantes and a ‘good’ akumatized Champion was going make him go gray.  Sighing, he got up to his feet.

“You going to be alright at school today?  You haven’t gotten much sleep, pumpkin.”

Sabrina nodded.  “I’ll manage, especially since I know that Adrien will be okay soon.  If I need to, I can ask if I can take a nap during PE.  …can I stay till you know?”

“I don’t like you going in late to school…”

“PLEASE, Dad?!  Adrien’s my friend, even if he doesn’t really get how friends work and I’m really worried and Chloé’s worried and I think someone found out what happened somehow because I heard some of the kids talking about-”

“What, you what?!  Which kids?!”

“Ummm…  just… some kids… whose names I don’t know!  …at school?”

“…Sabrina.”

Sabrina put her best innocent expression.  “Yes, Daddy?”

“Did you know you always look at your left foot before you lie?”

“Um.”  Sabrina started to glance down again, the froze and looked up at her father.  “I don’t?”

“You do.  You always have.”

Sabrina groaned.

“Now, which kids, Sabrina?”

“I don’t want to get anyone in trouble…”

“Sabrina, I need to know.”

“Why?”

“Because if they know then it’s possible that other people might.  Either there’s a leak somewhere or some of them might not have been as careful as they could have been cause they’re kids.  It could put Adrien in danger.  That’s why we try to keep kidnapping cases like this as down low as possible.  It’s safest for the people kidnapped.”

Sabrina bit her lip, but then nodded.  “It was Nino and Alya at first.  I think Nino found out or figured it out cause he’s Adrien’s best friend and maybe Mme. Sancœur let something slip or he saw the police there or something.  I know Chloé didn’t tell him.  She didn’t tell ANYONE!”

“Wait, Chloé knows?!”

“She… might have been in the room when Adrien’s dad called her dad to ask him for help?”

Roger groaned and scrubbed at his face.  Well.  Should have seen that coming. “You said ‘at first’ it was just Nino and Alya?”

“Well, I’ve seen them talking with a few other people in the class, but I don’t know if that’s about Adrien or not.  Chloé’s had us leaving the second the bell rings so we can try to find some clue, some… some way to find Adrien.  Some way to help.  We found some stuff out, but it wasn’t anything that I thought could help you, so…”

“And you didn’t want to get in trouble.”

Sabrina bit her lip and ducked her head, scuffing the ground with a foot before nodding quietly.

“Well.  No matter what, Ladybug and Chat Noir are heroes.  They know what to do, they’ll save your friend.”

“Do you really think so, Dad?”

“I know so, pumpkin.”

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He didn’t know what to do.

This wasn’t what he and Adrien had THOUGHT he’d be doing.  That was supposed to have just been ‘transform for a few hours, meet and greet with Adrien in a few places, call it a day’.  Nino had actually been really stoked about it.  He’d get to be a superhero!  How cool was THAT?

Not very cool, it turned out.

Granted, it was more than situation than the whole superhero part, but still.

He’d managed despite it.  Alya and Plagg were both helping all they could, keeping him on track and ‘in-character’ for five days… and it wasn’t like he’d had to fight – which was a good thing, since he was fairly certain that if there had been a real fight, the jig would have been up.  There was no way he could fight like Adrien did as Chat Noir, not even with Plagg helping all he could with subconscious prompts.

Chat’s ears twitched and he held a hand up, and Ladybug and Shadowhawk froze.

 **::Faint voices up ahead,::** he signed.

Shadowhawk and Ladybug just aimed twin scowls at his hands.  Shadowhawk signed, but the words were a jumble where they were not meaningless and… oh shoot.  Wait.  Alya had said that the tracker school was based in ENGLAND…

…Shadowhawk was using, and probably knew, English Sign Language or maybe some weird special ops or ‘tracking school’ sign language and not French.  Shit.

Also, did Ladybug not know sign language?  Uhhhh, okay, so now what?

He finally did the sign for talk next to his mouth while mouthing ‘voices’, then pointed ahead.  Fortunately, both of the others seemed to get it and nodded.

They crept around the corner, slipped down the hall towards a closed door they could just see – light seeping around its edges.  Chat fell back a bit, letting Ladybug and Shadowhawk take the lead. That way they’d attack first and hopefully – since they were going up against non-akumatized people – that would mean it would be over in a moment and he WOULDN’T have to fight and thus reveal that he didn’t really know how to fight yet.  Plus, they were the ones with the ranged weapons, Ladybug with her yoyo, Shadowhawk with the gun she had on her right hip holster – and who knew what a ‘gun’ probably created by an akumatization could do.

They paused just shy of the door.  Ladybug pointed to herself, then to the right with a kind of sweeping motion.  Then to Shadowhawk and to the left.  Ladybug pointed to Chat, then pointed straight ahead.

For the first time, Chat was really glad that Shadowhawk was here.  Her presence meant that Ladybug had to keep her plans and gestures to things she felt ‘anyone’ would be able to follow.  Which meant that Chat could follow them.

Getting a nod from Shadowhawk and Chat Noir, Ladybug reached forward to open the door-

Only to have it swing open sharply just before she could touch the handle.

One of the kidnappers took a step out of the room then froze, eyes wide in shock, staring at the trio before offering a loud curse and scrambling backwards. 

Chat Noir offered a soft but very heartfelt ‘fuck’, then followed Ladybug and Shadowhawk as they dove after the man, the two women leaping to the left and right, while Chat ran into the room, pulling his baton off his back as he heard the crack of a gun firing.  Hopefully Plagg could prompt him through How To Shield or something because the whole ‘spinning super-fast’ thing actually looked really-

In a corner of the room was a bed.  On that bed was Adrien, who was limp and very obviously unconscious.  Standing over the bed, holding a full syringe and in the process of lifting and turning Adrien’s arm was a middle-aged woman.

She was going to inject Adrien with something.

She had hurt, WAS HURTING, his best friend.

Chat hit the woman claws first and like a ton of bricks, smashing her to the floor, a sound that was half snarl and half roar ripping out of his throat.  The woman was pale in terror, screaming and shouting in a mix of English and Spanish, eyes locked onto the still full syringe that Chat had in his hand that he didn’t remember grabbing.  He was going to-!

A shot rang out and chipped the wall up above him.

…He was going to protect Adrien.

Chat let the syringe fall to the floor and stood up, hefting the woman up and chucking her at the one of the large geodes that stood around the perimeter of the room then jumped over the bed and pulled his baton off his hip and spun it into a shield between the room and Adrien.  …annnd knew how to do it.  Subconscious prompts for the win.  ‘ _Thank you, Plagg._ ’

The fight was, honestly, over before it began.  The seven kidnappers present were well prepared… for normal people and normal situations.

That was nowhere near enough to deal with three bullet-proof, super strong, super fast, physics bending superheroes.  Ladybug summoned a Lucky Charm, which ended up being a large tape dispenser loaded with duct tape, and started to use it to bind the kidnappers as she, and Shadowhawk, took them down, roughly taping their arms to their sides, their wrists together in front of them, and finally taping their ankles together tightly.

As Ladybug taped up the woman that Chat had tackled at the start of the fight, Chat shrunk his baton and stuck it behind his back and spun around to check Adrien.  The blond was limp and pale, skin clammy and chilled, his breathing shallow…  And he was totally unresponsive, even when Chat shook his shoulders.  “Adrien?  Come on, dude, don’t you do this…”

Ladybug ran over, checking Adrien as well, looking just as terrified as Chat Noir felt. That was, in its own way, almost as frightening as everything else.  Ladybug always seemed like the one who knew what to do.  Her not knowing, when Chat couldn’t think of anything and Adrien wasn’t… really… there to think of anything meant that-

Shadowhawk came over to the far side of the bed, checking Adrien over with a cold, professional air.  She, unlike Chat Noir and Ladybug, seemed to know exactly what was wrong with Adrien… and while it seemed to be pissing her off, it didn’t seem to be FRIGHTENING her.

Which in an odd way was actually… not comforting, not calming, but… centering, he guessed.  He could take a breath, the frantic panic of ‘something’s wrong and it might not be something that can be fixed’ sank to something where he could think.  Even if what he was thinking was an endless repeat of ‘no’ and lots of curse words.

His cat-ears twitched and rotated towards the door and Chat closed his eyes to concentrate for a moment.  “I can… hear…  people coming.  Radio and voices…” he opened his eyes, staring out the door and down the dark stone hall.  “The police are coming, they should be here soon.”

Ladybug nodded, then jumped when her miraculous beeped sharply, one of the 5 dots flickering before winking out.

Her right hand flew up to her earrings, then she stared at the tape-dispenser in her left hand, eyes going wide.  “Wait…  wait, Why did Tikki prompt me to summon a Lucky Charm for just… seven normal people… unless…”

Chat’s own eyes went wide, remembering conversations he’d had with Alya in the past months as she focused ( _okay, obsessed_ ) about her Ladyblog and how she though Ladybug’s ‘reset’ and magic worked, with Adrien after finding out his best friend was Chat Noir, and even with Plagg these last few days.  “Unless you needed it!”

Ladybug threw the tape dispenser up into the air.  “Miraculous Restoration!!”  The tape dispenser went up… and just as it touched the roof of the room, burst into a Wheel of Life. 

Shadowhawk leapt back and away as four of the columns of glowing ladybugs curled and coiled around the bed, then rushed away – taking Adrien and the two heroes with them.  She glanced around the room, taking in the seven kidnappers, still bound in duct tape.  Apparently the dispensor had been the ‘Charm’ and the tape itself had been normal.  Or perhaps Ladybug had willed the tape to stay. 

_‘Papillon.  Can you hear me?’_

Hmm.  Nothing.

Shadowhawk eyed the room, particularly the statues and geodes that lined the perimeter.  She went to the door and stepped into the stone hall.  _‘Papillon.’_

The mark of Papillon flared to life before her face, even as his presense seemed to step up beside her in her own mind scape, like he was looming behind her shoulder.  _~Shadowhawk.  What happened?!  You vanished from my ability to sense or speak with you.?  Where you able to find Adrien?!  Is he-~_

_‘Adrien was here.  The two heroes and I rescued him.  Ladybug used her Restoration and the three were whisked away…  my assumption would be to Adrien’s home as the most likely destination, given how the Restoration seems to most often work with matters… similar… to this.  As for why you could not sense me…  I suspect the items within the room are responsible.’_

_~Hmm.  Yes, I can see them in your memories.  I… must go-  IF Adrien was returned home, I need to- ~_

_‘Go.  We can discuss and finalize our bargain later.  I will sort out this scum.’_

Papillon faded from her mind and the Mark winked out.  Shadowhawk glanced down the hall.  Hmm.  She could faintly hear the police now. 

Not as much time as she would have liked.

Still.  It would be sufficient.

Pulling her gun out of it’s holster, she walked back into the room.  “Now.  The time has come for answers…  And my Master and I have many questions.  Let us start with the subject of YOUR master…”

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Light danced, filling the dark and pulling him back to himself, from where he had been.  The Restoration…  he knew it well, now.  Knew the starkness of waking up in a place he had no memory of going to, with an echoing pit where memory should be, and trying to figure out what was going on… followed by days, if not weeks, of avoiding the news and the net and fans, so that he wouldn’t find out what he’d done – or almost done.

But this time…  this time as the light faded, there were memories. 

Memories of explosions and feathers and the worst allergy attack he’d ever had, then weird disjointed memories of… drifting and not being connected to himself at all and what he was pretty sure were hallucinations ( _that, or the kidnappers had pastel colored elephants_ ), of the video ‘interview’ and the attempted escape…

The last memory that came, just as the light faded and he started to open his eyes was of the kidnappers finding him in the catacombs, grabbing him, leaning over him and-

-he was laying down, people leaning over him and NO!

Adrien pushed off the bed, trying to scramble back and away from the people around him…

-and slammed back first into black leather that was as solid as a wall.  Adrien looked up and found himself looking at… himself. 

“Adrien, it’s okay!” Chat Noir said, holding Adrien’s shoulders.  “It’s just us, dude!  You’re okay, we got you out of there!”

…Nino was Chat Noir.  Adrien closed his eyes with a mental groan.  How could he have forgotten about his plan?  How could things have been THAT much of a muddle in his head.  Someone grabbed him in a hug and Adrien’s eyes snapped open… and he found that he was being hugged by LADYBUG.

“Adrien?  You gonna be okay, dude?”  Chat asked, squeezing Adrien’s shoulders, face twisted in worry.

Adrien nodded, gulping a deep breath in.  “Yeah.  I’ll be okay.”  Not now, but… he would be.  He hesitantly wrapped his arms around Ladybug, then looked up at Chat Noir again.  “Thank you.”

For the rescue, for being willing to pretend to be Chat in the first place, for managing to keep up the façade for… um… for however long it had been.

Chat smiled.  “Any time, d-.”

The doors to Adrien’s room slammed open, making all three of the teens jump as Gabriel Agreste rushed into the room and straight over to Adrien, literally knocking Ladybug and Chat Noir aside as he grabbed Adrien and pulled him into a crushingly tight hug.

Adrien’s eyes went wide in shock, but then he melted into the hug, wrapping his arms around his father, fingers clenching on the fabric of his father’s jacket as he pressed his face against his shoulder.  He wasn’t going to cry.  He was going to be okay and he wasn’t…  he wasn’t…

His breath hitched.

 Chat Noir and Ladybug blinked when Natalie and the Gorilla entered the room, offering the two heroes a hand up. 

“If you both would come with me, please.  Adrien and Monsieur Agreste would likely appreciate some time alone…”

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Brigadier Raincomprix sighed, staring at the now crowded room deep in the Catacombs.

Superheroes and kidnapped teen gone.  ( _Taken back to the Agreste Mansion by the Miraculous Restoration, according to both the kidnappers and the police he had stationed at the mansion_.)

Supervillain gone.  ( _Roger wasn’t certain exactly how close he might have come to finding her still here, just that she was gone by the time the first police officers arrived_.)

Evidence tampered with.  ( _Both from the fight and rescue that had happened, and according to the kidnappers, Shadowhawk had gone through the room and taken several items with her when she’d left… including geodes, statues and necklaces that the kidnappers claimed to have been wearing._ )

A few kidnappers, including the leader of the group, missing.  ( _Apparently having not been present when the trio of superpowered individuals arrived.  But Roger had names and descriptions and likely areas that they might be to work with now.  If nothing else, he could ensure that they were unlikely to be able to flee the country_.)

…and one man dead.

Roger stared at the dead kidnapper.  Dave, according to the six survivors.  Killed by Shadowhawk after the Miraculous Restoration had been used.  What made Roger angry though, was the way the kidnappers talked about him…

Like even they thought Dave had done… something… to deserve it.

When people who kidnapped a kid by triggering potentially lethally allergy attacks thought that one of their own ‘probably deserved’ to have been killed by an akumatized super villain…

Well.

Roger sighed.  “Okay, drag this one to the morgue.  Officers, get this lot to cells.  CSI, find out what you can.  We’ve got a lot of work to do, let’s get it started.”


	27. Chapter 27

At least it was Wednesday.

Nino stared dully at the equations on his classwork as they faded in and out of focus.  Ten more minutes.  He just had to get through ten more minutes of Maths, then he could go home and sleep himself out.  Get eight hours of sleep.

Adrien was home, and okay, and likely would be carefully watched by his father and everyone else at the mansion for at least a day or two, so Nino would probably have to wait till later tonight or this morning or something to go give Adrien the ring back and… uh.   …Wait, how was he gonna get out of Adrien’s room in the middle of the night with no super powers?

…Maybe ten hours sleep.

Nino yawned, which made the headache he’d gotten as the day wore on pound all the harder.  Maybe, if he could manage it, he could go see Adrien after school and give him the ring then and…  Ugh, no he was falling asleep just sitting here.  Couldn’t do anything that might make M. Agreste or Papillon or Ladybug or ANYONE suspicious.  He winced as the headache spiked sharply.

…Twelve hours of sleep at least. 

Adrien HAD been ungrounded so hopefully he’d be back in school tomorrow and Nino could give him the Miraculous back first thing.   …if Adrien didn’t show up tomorrow morning, Nino could go to the mansion during lunch break.  Hopefully Papillon wouldn’t break pattern and they’d have a day or two before the next akumatized showed up.

Nino glanced around the room.  Marinette was out like a light, head pillowed on her arms and was – if Alya’s bemused expression was anything to go by – snoring again.  Ladybug must have swung by to tell Marinette about Adrien’s rescue, Nino figured.

Alya looked drained, but not as haggard as Nino felt.  …but then again, she’d been able to get a lot more sleep and hadn’t been out and about and running all over the city like Ladybug and Nino had been, nor had she been stuck for most of the time unable to do anything or let anyone know what was happening like Marinette – which had to be exhausting in its own way.

Was there anything he’d forgotten to do that he had to take care of before going home and sleeping for fourteen hours?

Ummmm.  Well, he and Alya had told the ‘find Adrien like we found Spy’ group that Adrien was rescued and safe and would be coming back to school soon.  They’d also gotten pulled aside by Sabrina of all people, annnnnnnd had found out that her dad had found out about the class trying to find/rescue Adrien.  At least M. Raincomprix had apparently not been super angry… although he did want to talk to all of the kids involved this Friday during lunch so he could explain things to them and why that from now on they really had to work with the police instead of doing their own thing.

Which… Well, after working with him as Chat Noir, Nino kinda had a feeling that the brigadier would have good reasons.

At least he was willing to wait till Friday…. And willing to pay for the lunch of several growing teens.  That was very cool of him.

…Something else that was cool?

Sleep.

Nino groaned and let his head drop to his arms on the table, closing his eyes.

Just a few more minutes, then he could get on a bus, go home and sleep. 

Someone grabbed his shoulder and shook it and Nino jolted awake, trying to leap to his feet only to get tangled in his chair and fall.  He tried to grab the person that had shook him, to catch himself, to stop his fall, but that…

That didn’t go well for either of them.

To start, the person that had shaken Nino’s shoulder was Nathanaël.  …and Nath was a SHRIMP, about as tall and ‘buff’ as Rose…  which meant about as far AWAY from ‘buff’ as it was possible to be.

To follow, Nathanaël had been leaning over at a weird angle when he’d given Nino’s shoulder a shake, not braced at all.

Which meant that both went crashing to the floor.  Nino landed on his bookbag and was absolutely certain that he heard Plagg make a sound like a broken squeaky toy.

…Had he just broken the kwami?  Could kwamis break?  Adrien was gonna KILL HIM if Nino broke the cheese guzzling god!!  No matter how annoying Nino found him, Adrien was incredibly fond of the ball of stinky black fur!!

Actually and much more importantly, Nino might have broken NATHANAËL.

The rouget was lying on the floor next to Nino, clutching his arm against his chest and, so far as Nino could tell, literally speaking in tongues. 

The math teacher, M. al-Khwarizmi, knelt down next to the duo, carefully checking Nathanaël and helping him sit up.  Nino looked around, wondering why no one was helping, and realized that the room was empty.

…He’d slept through the bell, WOW.

“You okay, Nath?”

Nathanaël nodded, although he was still holding his arm in close.

“…You’re a sucky liar, Nath.  I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to hurt you, I just-”

Nathanaël offered a weak smile.  “You just didn’t wake up at the bell so I figured I’d wake you up, I wanted to ask how the music was going anyway.  Then you fell and pulled me with you and- OW!”  Nathanaël aimed a glare at the teacher, who just aimed a flat look back at the teen.

“It looks like you hurt your arm, Nathanaël.  Let’s get you to the school nurse to have it checked.  Nino, are you alright?”

Nino blinked and checked himself over, then nodded.  “Yes, Monsieur.”

“I’d still like you to come and be checked as well, that was quite the spill.”

Nino groaned.  So much for going straight home to sleep.  He got to his feet and grabbed his bookbag, then stooped and got Nathanaël’s bookbag as well.  He walked out of the room behind the teacher and Nathanaël, trying to suppress a yawn.  “Hey, uh, I didn’t know you spoke foreign languages besides English and a bit of Italian.  It sounded kind cool, what were you saying?”

Nathanaël blushed.  “Uh.  Nothing I can translate on school grounds if I don’t wanna get expelled.”

“…Okay, now I want to know the curses you used, if you think it’s stuff you couldn’t otherwise say in school.”

“No!” Nathanaël yelped, then winced and held his arm a bit closer to his side.  “I mean…  my foster parents don’t even know that I know that stuff… but they aren’t a fluent in Yiddish as I am, or my parents were, so they… don’t always know what I’m saying and-”

“…you curse out your foster parents?” Nino asked, worried that something was going on.

“Huh?  …Oh!  Nonono!  I curse when the paint dries too fast, or not at all, or when the marker dries out, or the art program crashes and I forgot to save, or I can’t find the right pencil, or when I was trying to overlay acrylics and oils and it didn’t work, or the time I was trying to extract pigment from some lapis and it didn’t WORK or stuff like that and I want to be able to say bad stuff without them doing the gasp and horrified that I know THOSE words faces that parents do, you know?”

M. al-Khwarizmi made a most undignified snorting bray of laughter, making both Nino and Nathanaël glance up at him with sheepish smiles. “Alright, why don’t you two finish this discussion somewhere where I won’t have to have a talk about inappropriate language?” 

“Yes, sir.”

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“And then?”

Adrien gulped, staring down at his hands, playing with the silver ring on his right hand.  He wished it was real and Plagg was here.  Yeah, the kwami would be making his overshirt smell of cheese, and probably would just have a sarcastic commentary about this therapy session, but…  he’d still BE here.  …Maybe he’d even give a little bit of comfort, purring in Adrien’s pocket or the like, the kwami had done that a few times when Adrien had been stressed out or crying or really angry.

“After… I dunno.  I figured if they thought I’d passed out they wouldn’t ask me where Dr. Martin was, so I laid down and pretended to be unconscious but I think I kinda half did pass out?  ‘Cause everything’s… spotty… after that.”

“Everything?”

Adrien glanced up, meeting M. Dumas’ calm and kind eyes. After a bit he gulped and shook his head.  “Not everything but… most of it.” He rubbed his arms, then hugged himself tight.  “One of them… Dave… when I woke up all the way, after they got me back to where they were hiding out…  He beat me up a bit – to beat the fear out of me – before the others made him-“  his breath hitched.  “And he said he was gonna do worse to Dr. Martin, wanted to do worse.  So I’m glad she- she wasn’t there.  They needed me alive cause they wanted to record another video but her…”

“What you did was very heroic, you know.   …Dr. Martin said that she wanted to be able to thank you, when you feel up to it.”

“She’s okay?”

“Of course she is!  …Oh, Adrien, no one told you?”

Adrien shook his head, scrubbing some tears away with the heel of his hand.  “I guess everyone I talked to thought someone else told me.”

“Would you like me to set up a meeting with her?”

“…Yes, please, but…  Père… What if he doesn’t…”

“I can talk to him first, if you want.”

Adrien nodded.  “Yeah, I…  I would.”

M. Dumas nodded and made a few small notes, then looked back up at Adrien. “Well, let’s continue.” 

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“Master?”

Gabriel leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling for several minutes before finally turning to look at his kwami.  “Yes, Nooroo?”

“You are disturbed.”

Gabriel looked down at his phone.  “I am, yes.”

“Why?”

Gabriel started to open his mouth, then paused, frowning.  “Let me answer that with a question.  I have empathy as my ‘passive’ ability due to becoming Papillon, correct?”

“Yes, master.  That is how you are able to pick up the emotions of potential candidates and thus can transform to refine your focus in time to charge and send out an akuma.”

“…This ability is accurate?”

“Yes, Master.  Very.  Although it tends to pick out… spikes… of strong emotions more than anything else.  People who have strong control of their emotions, or tend to have very steady emotions – even if the emotions are very strong – are difficult for you to pick up.”

“So, if someone was anxious regularly, or depressed or… used to disappointment…”

“You would only pick it up as a vague background noise.  …Why do you ask?”

“I just got off the phone with Monsieur Dumas.”

Nooroo blinked, then tilted her head in silent query.

“Adrien’s therapist.”

“Is he-?”

“Adrien is recovering and will continue to recover.  The initial part of the call was to get permission to allow Adrien to meet with Dr. Martin… the following subject matter was myself, and the behaviors of myself and Emilie.”  Gabriel lurched to his feet, pacing the confines of his bedroom.  He didn’t want this to be true.  It COULDN’T be true…  He was NOT-

His hands clenched, making the phone squeak, and he spun around sharply.  “Nooroo! I-”

He broke off when the kwami flinched, and he felt a brief – but sharp- stab of fear from the tiny god.

He froze, staring at Nooroo, who stared back, wary and quiet and waiting, the spike already fading into a steady background noise.

A background noise he knew. 

But he… couldn’t.  He WOULDN’T…

…but the emotions, what they were, what it meant, and the knowledge all remained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the bit with Nath… that is legit something many of my friends and family do, as they sometimes forget that most of the rest of the family (even those not jewish themselves) tend to know basic Yiddish.  
> Which results in a lot of: OY! Ikh red Mame loshn abisl ir visn!!  
> (yes, I know my grammar isn’t the best. I’m putting my actual level here instead of calling up friends/family and asking for perfect grammar which means this is… passable. I understand Yiddish far better than I speak it. And with lots of teenagers that I watch/kidsit… I know which words to keep an ear out for thanks to my cousins/aunts/uncles telling me what to listen for and what it means. I helps that Yiddish is a SVO v2 language so the grammar is similar to English, it just means you have to slowly learn the words and you can be… passable – at the very least your kith and kin won’t laugh at you as much XD)  
> Zachery (one of my godsons) is a surfer, but also an artist, and he tends to curse a lot at inanimate objects to let of steam, a trait I gave to Nath as it seemed fitting ^_^  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
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> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> As for Gabe… this is something that needs to start being addressed.  
> I don’t know if this will be the case in canon or not, but I do feel that while Gabe is guilty of abuse level neglect and emotional abuse/manipulation. I do not think that he is doing so KNOWINGLY, I do think he honestly loves Adrien and I do think that the emotional abuse is middle level.  
> If you feel otherwise-one way or the other, you are 100% valid in your opinions. The show is very vague on this matter, which opens a lot of issues in discussion or views because it is – at the moment – subjective. Everyone is bringing their own views and experience to the table. (Note that I have been working with abused/troubled teens for over two decades, which is coloring my views and analysis of the situation/show/character. The same is true for someone coming from a happy and stable home, someone coming from an abusive home, and all walks of life.)  
> I can tell you that HERE, in this fanfic series, Gabe is not KNOWINGLY engaging in abuse, he does honestly love Adrien, and prior to the disappearance of Emilie he was better/less neglectful and manipulative… not perfect, and both parents were cloistering him to a severe degree – but still better than the current situation.  
> And that is important because that means that he can change.  
> Abuse is a very real issue, but just as abuse needs to be talked about and shown… so to does the fact that not all people are pure evil (indeed most aren’t) and that some can grow and change and better themselves…  
> But HOW that occurs is vital. It can’t be ‘the power of love’ that leads to a lot of dangerous paths IRL.  
> Thus, Gabe has his behavior called to his attention by a professional, he is more aware of emotional responses of those around him than normal people would be, he’s just been through a VERY trying time which means he’s overall more likely to LISTEN if it’s coached right…  
> And the door is opened.  
> Improvement has not begun. Healing has not begun. Betterment has not begun.  
> Those things take TIME and EFFORT and there will be backsliding and mess and heart ache.  
> But the door is open, and the steps towards addressing the messed up shit that Gabe is engaging in with his son can start, Gabe can work with a PROFESSIONAL and maybe – just maybe – there is hope for the future  
> …  
> You know, for the ‘normal person’ side of things.  
> There is still the MASSIVE MASSIVE ISSUE OF HIM BEING A SUPER VILLAIN.


	28. Chapter 28

Adrien didn’t want to go to sleep.

It was late at night, much later than he usually went to bed, but Adrien was still wide awake, too tense and jittery to be anything but awake.  Too stressed out after nearly a week of being drugged unconscious to even really think about going to bed.

His father and Natalie were working on setting up for Men's Fashion Week, which was now less than a month away, and they’d lost a week due to Adrien’s kidnapping.  Although both had assured him that they were not angry, or even annoyed, at him for this.  Natalie had even given him a flat look as she’d stated that he was more important than lost time.  Adrien honestly felt too off to really consider how he felt about it.  Was he happy?  Was he supposed to feel guilty?  He just… didn’t know, couldn’t process it.

He stared down blankly at the paperwork he had in front of him.

He was going to be allowed to go back to school.  Apparently Chat Ninoir ( _the pun, weak as it was, still made him smile for a second.  He had to remember to tell it to Nino when he could_ ) and ‘a student from your school who didn’t wish to be identified’ had succeeded in getting Adrien ungrounded.  He wasn’t really certain HOW, after all Adrien’s plan had just been for Chat and Ladybug to show up to ‘check on him’ to make sure his Father didn’t suspect him.  Getting ungrounded, and being allowed to go back to school, was something he’d thought he’d have to find the missing book for.  He’d have to ask Nino how they’d done it, and who he needed to thank for helping.

But since he would be able to go back to school, that meant he had to catch up on all the school work he’d missed.

Which Natalie had gotten for him and he now was slowly slogging his way through, sitting at Natalie desk in the atelier, working on his homework while Gabriel and Natalie worked, and planned, and called people around him, as they’d done for the last several hours after he’d gotten home from his session with M. Dumas.

There was a sharp clicking sound and Adrien jolted, head snapping up off of his arms as he looked around wildly, trying to get his bearings.  When had he fallen asleep?!  How long had he been asleep?!

“Adrien?”

Natalie was staring at him, her hand resting on her phone.   …oh, the click had to have been her hanging up.

“I…  I’m sorry, Natalie, I-”  …wait.  “Where’s Père?”

“He stepped out a few minutes ago to have a discussion with his show leads and organizers.  He was expecting it to get rather loud and, as you’d fallen asleep, he didn’t wish to wake you.  He should be back within the hour.”

Adrien gulped, looking down at his school work before gathering his courage and looking up.  “Natalie?”

“Yes, Adrien?”

“I… I don’t…  I was wondering if you could talk to Père and…  if the three of us could discuss…” Adrien took a deep gulping breath then spoke as fast as he could, before he lost the courage.  “If we could discuss me not doing the London, New York and Milan Weeks for Fashion Month this September. And... and maybe not doing Men's Fashion Week.”

Natalie blinked at him, then turned her chair to fully face him, raising her eyebrows slightly in silent query.

Adrien stared down at his hands, fussing with the Chat Calicot ring Alya had leant him.  “I just… I know that I’ve talked a lot, about wanting to go to other countries and getting to see the world and… and I do still want to do that!  But not… not right now.  Not for a while.    Could you… Do you think you could talk to Père?  …Do you think…” Adrien paused, taking a deep breath.  “…Do you think he’ll be mad?”

Natalie was silent for several minutes, considering the question.

Adrien waited quietly, doing his best not to fidget or shift or do anything at all.  Natalie hated having her chain of thought interrupted, perhaps more-so than his father did.

“Well.  Given recent events, I believe your father would be… amicable… to you remaining home in Paris.  I will bring the matter, and your request, to his attention as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, Natalie,” Adrien said quietly, then turned his attention back to his school work.  He’d honestly expected more of a fuss and to have to fight.

Instead, Adrien had… won.

He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, he wasn’t quite sure it was real, but he didn’t want to question it in case it mucked things up.

He stayed awake for nearly an hour longer, before finally falling asleep again, cheek mashed up against the book he’d been reading.

Which was how Gabriel found him when he walked in, an hour and a half after that.  He paused at the doorway, eyebrows raised as he considered Adrien, looking to Natalie silently.

Natalie got to her feet and quietly walked to the door, stepping outside the room, and Gabriel followed. 

“The matters you went to address, sir?”

“All matters, both in the Fashion Weeks and the other primary concern, are as…  stable and sorted… as is possible at the moment.  Adrien?”

“Exhaustion and nothing more.  He has been asleep for over an hour.”

Gabriel nodded, expression distant. 

“There is a matter that he wished for me to bring before you that I feel we should discuss come the morning.”

“Mmm, very well, we will discuss it first thing tomorrow.  …That position can not be conductive to good health,” Gabriel muttered. He walked into the atelier and stood staring down at Adrien for a moment, then bent and carefully picked Adrien up, grunting at the weight and having to rearrange his grip, wincing when his back informed him what a poor choice this was.  Still, he carried the sleeping teen out of the room and, with a mental curse because WHY had he decided on sweeping white marble stairs?  At least it was only half a floor up.

…Granted he had forgotten the detail of the door to Adrien’s room being closed. 

Fortunately, Natalie had followed him up the stairs, and now opened the door without a word or even a sarcastic raise of an eyebrow ( _at least not within his line of sight_ ).

Gabriel offered a nod to Natalie and carried Adrien to bed, sliding his shoes off before tucking him in.  He ran a hand over the sleeping teen’s hair for a few minutes, then quietly quit the room.

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Shadowhawk swooped low over a rooftop, letting her prisoner drop to land with a solid sounding thud on the metal tile below.  She landed and crossed her arms, studying her.  Hm.  Forearms duct taped together behind her back with her hands wrist to elbow, gagged and currently unconscious.  She looked around, scanning the area.

Outside of Paris, right on the edge of Papillon’s ability to sense or speak, in an area that was largely abandoned and it was late at night, now.  Even if the police were informed of the goings on, the odds were high she would be done before they arrived, and outside of Paris it was unlikely that the superhero duo would show up.

Well, she hadn’t found all of the kidnappers, but she had managed to find the leader of the pack.

She prodded the woman with one armored boot.

Hm.  Another few minutes before the kidnapper woke up, if she was any judge.

‘ _Papillon_.’

One minute passed, then another.

~ ** _Shadowhawk?_** ~

_‘I hope I am not interrupting?’_

**_~No.  Things are, at the moment, in a holding pattern.~_ **

_‘Good.  I managed to grab the ringleader, she should be coming to in about half a minute.  …Managed to snag her on the sly too, since she was hiding and trying to stay off radar.’_

**_~All for the better then.  …The police say you killed one of the kidnappers, may I see your reasoning?~_ **

‘You may.’

…  ~ ** _Beat the fear out of-!?~_**

_‘Plus a few other threats that he apparently followed through on.  I have… issues… with those who harm children.  The man didn’t deserve a jail cell or trial.’_

The woman on the rooftop groaned and shifted her weight, limbs twitching as her head lolled on the tile… the jerked, freezing sharply.

_‘…Ah, there, she’s come to.’_

**_~Good.  …If you would be so kind?~_ **

Shadowhawk reached down and grabbed the woman by her braid, hauling the kidnapper up to a sitting position by the thick, long coil of hair.  “Don’t bother trying to fake it.  I know you’re awake and I WILL let you fall flat on your face and roll right off the edge to the street if you don’t drop the act.  …And I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure a five story drop to cobblestone will kill you.”

Shadowhawk let go of the woman’s braid, smiling beneath her mask when the kidnapper stayed sitting up and opened her eyes, mouth moving around the gag as she likely tried to curse Shadowhawk and Papillon out.

Shadowhawk backhanded the woman, knocking her to the roof tiles and then stopping her slide toward the edge with a sharp kick before hauling her back into a sitting position. 

The kidnapper shifted, then lunged to her feet aiming a vicious kick that caught Shadowhawk by surprise, although Shadowhawk’s armor protected her from harm.  The kidnapper landed lithely on the rooftop and pressed the attack, rage and fear burning in the woman’s eyes.

Shadowhawk simply took to the air, swooping around in a quick pass to strike at the woman from behi-

The kidnapper leapt up in a flip, sending a heel-strike down into Shadowhawk’s back, the sudden impact making Shadowhawk smack into the roof and skid to the edge before she caught herself.  She pushed herself up… and was kicked off the roof, the kidnapper landing on the edge of the roof and carefully moving backwards to the peak of the roof while Shadowhawk crashed onto the cobblestones below.

Well.  THAT was interesting.

If annoying.

Shadowhawk took to the air and rushed back to the roof… only to be sent racing off at a crazy angle into the building across the road and from there down to the cobblestones yet AGAIN when a foot connected with her helmet.

Alright.

New rule.

Next time she was duct-taping peoples’ FEET together and not just their arms.

This time, Shadowhawk stayed low to the ground, flying to the end of the street before rising up above the rooftops.

The kidnapper was standing by a chimney, twisted awkwardly as she rubbed the duct tape binding her arms against the corner of the chimney, using the rough bricks to slowly cut through the tape.

Shadowhawk flew down fast and landed on the roof in a slide… and couldn’t help but blink when the kidnapper leapt at her, pushed off her shoulders and landed on the roof, pulling her arms out from behind her back and settling into a fighting stance as Shadowhawk turned around.

She tilted her head in an acknowledgment of the skill she was facing, then ducked under a round house kick half out of habit and half because she didn’t have the most secure footing on the slope of the roof and didn’t want to meet the cobblestones for a third time.

Alright.  Enough was enough.

Shadowhawk braced and let the next kick land squarely, grabbing the woman’s ankle and shoving her back and down to the roof.

The kidnapper landed and came up in a roll – then froze, staring at Shadowhawk’s gun, all of her attention locking onto it for one moment as she debated what to do…

Which meant that she didn’t see the black butterfly fluttering down out of the night sky to land and phase into the Trishula pendant of her necklace.  Her eyes slid out of focus and her face became curiously blank as the mark of Papillon flared to life before both her face and Shadowhawk’s.

**_~Hello, Monghost.  I am the Papillon.  I come to you with an offer most generous…~_ **


	29. Chapter 29

Marinette sat on her chaise, staring at her calendar of Adrien’s schedule, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands.

Alya had become friends with Adrien over the last few weeks. 

Oddly, now that she’d had a chance to calm down ( _and sleep_ ) she wasn’t angry at or as jealous of Alya anymore for being friends with Adrien when Marinette was getting nowhere.  It wasn’t as if Alya was going after Adrien, just befriending him, and she wasn’t jealous of Nino being friends with Adrien… so why was she still a little jealous of Alya?

Marinette sighed, staring at all the information on the schedule.  …Maybe because she wasn’t jealous, she was envious.  Alya now had something she didn’t, open and relaxed friendship with Adrien.  With enough trust between them that Adrien had talked to Alya about something that seemed to be very personal and uncomfortable.  Meanwhile Marinette still had trouble speaking sensibly to Adrien, and despite sharing most of her classes with him, she still relied on the schedule to figure out where he’d be and what he’d be doing so she could go…

Not even really try to talk to him, not yet, just stare after him and imagine what it’d be like when they were together.  She was getting better.  She’d had some short conversations with Adrien now, sometimes without even stumbling over her words.

But that wasn’t friendship, was it?

Marinette glanced to the side and found Tikki sitting on the backrest of the chaise, staring at her and silently waiting.  Marinette got to her feet and started pacing, trying to sort things out in her head.  What to do, what to do? 

Adrien hated stalkers or the idea of people knowing his schedule or stuff like that, or so Alya had said… and Alya had no reason to lie and every reason to tell the truth.

Marinette stopped pacing and stared at he schedule.  It was just… so she knew where he was and when.  So she could go and watch him or try to build up the courage to talk to him or…

Or, or, or.

He wouldn’t care about why, just that she had it. 

She tried to imagine how she’d feel, if she found out that someone knew HER schedule, followed HER around without her knowing…

If someone did what she’d done, was doing, to her.  That shouldn’t make her feel different about it, and yet it did…

…And that gave her the answer to what to do, didn’t it?

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Adrien paced his room, while his body guard stood calmly by the piano, watching him calmly.

Far, FAR too calmly given what he had just told Adrien.  How could ANYONE be calm after that?  Adrien certainly wasn’t!!  Adrien felt like he was going to have a panic attack and M. Chaplin was just STANDING THERE all calm and collected!!

“How long have you-”

Adrien’s demand was cut short by the door opening, and he jumped – tense and off balance – when Gabriel walked in.

Father and son stared at each other for a moment, then Gabriel sighed softly.  “I am sorry I got carried away over a book, Adrien.  While I do thank you for trying to go and find it…”

Adrien sighed, staring at the floor, playing with the silver ring on his finger before letting go to chafe his arms.  “I shouldn’t have taken it without your permission.”

“The book… It was the last gift your mother gave me, before…  Her disappearance.  The book was one of the only things I had left of her.” Gabriel closed his eyes and took a long, steadying breath, then met Adrien’s gaze.  “The other is you.  But I know that you can not stay here forever, much as I wish I could keep you safe from what lies beyond the mansion walls.”

“Does that mean… you’re letting me go back to collège?”

Gabriel nodded, smiling faintly, then raised an eyebrow.  “Well?  Hurry up and get your school things, I don’t want you to be late.”

Adrien’s face lit up and he threw his arms around his father, hugging him tightly.  Gabriel jumped slightly, surprised, but hugged Adrien back, waiting until Adrien relaxed slightly and let go before stepping back slightly, resting his hands on Adrien’s shoulders for a moment.  “No more sneaking off alone.  Monsieur Chaplin cannot keep you safe if he does not know where you are.  Promise me, Adrien.  I can’t lose you.”

Adrien gulped and looked at his bodyguard, who simply nodded at him.  Adrien looked back to his father.  “I promise.  I’ll make sure he knows where I am.”

“Thank you, Adrien.”

Gabriel stepped back and, after a nod to M. Chaplin, turned and left. 

Adrien jumped, still skittish, when Charles put a hand on his shoulder, but he took a deep breath and set his shoulders, putting a calm mask on as he went to grab his school bag.

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Gabriel scrolled through the images he had digitized of the grimoire, then glanced up when he felt Nooroo lightly tap his chest. 

“Natalie, if you would take my calls for a short while?  I must step out for a moment.”

Natalie glanced up from her computer and nodded.  “The matter is concluding?”

“Yes.  Do you have the documents requested?”

Natalie picked up a flashdrive off her desk and stood up.  “Right here, sir.  All voice recordings were transcripted and the audio files deleted, and allt he requested information is included as well.”

Gabriel took the flashdrive and nodded and glanced to the closed door, closing his eyes for a moment as he felt for emotions beyond. 

Ah, good, no one save Natalie was near.

He pulled a 6 caret pink diamond out of his left vest pocket and glanced down to the right.  “Nooroo, do you know where Shadowhawk wishes to meet?”

“Yes, Master.  The flood tunnels, by the old _la hauteur_ mark, below Palais Garnier.”

Gabriel nodded and turned his attention to the diamond, narrowing his eyes as he focused…

_Vssssht!_

…and then teleported away.

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Marinette stared at her calendar again, then finally set her jaw and strode firmly over and rolled it up.  She grabbed a screwdriver, but even standing on her tiptoes, she couldn’t quite reach the screws that attached it to the wooden support beam that held up her bed-loft, since the L-bracket extensions were just a few centimeters out of reach. 

Shoot. Papa had been the one to put it up.  Marinette, at just over 152 centimeters, was just too small to reach.  And her swivel chair was too unsteady, and her chaise too heavy to drag over.

Well, NOW what?

Tikki flew over and took the screwdriver from Marinette’s hand with a gentle smile, then flew up and carefully unscrewed the calendar from the support beam, Marinette holding it up to keep it from falling. 

Marinette held the calendar in her arms, then looked up at Tikki.  “I think…  I’m going just say hi, and see if he needs someone to talk to, or maybe just be there for him. Today.”

Tikki nodded and smiled.  “You have to learn to walk before you can learn to fly.”

Marinette smiled and walked to her wastebasket, wedging the calendar in, leaning it against her desk so it wouldn’t fall over.  There.  Now if her parents looked in they’d see that this was to be thrown and – if it was still here when she got home, she’d remember to take it down to the bins. 

Nodding to herself, she grabbed her purse and backpack, then headed to school. 

She was just in time to see Adrien’s limo pull up.  Adrien stepped out of the car and went to close the door…

-and was immediately hit by Nino in a massive bear hug, Nino almost lifting the blond off the ground.  Alya hit a moment later with a war-whoop and all three fell into the limo in a tangle of limbs.

Marinette couldn’t help but smile.  It was so nice to see how much Nino and Alya cared about Adrien.  …and one day, hopefully soon, she’d be good enough friends that she could join in tackle-hugs too.

The three managed to untangle themselves and get out of the limo, and Alya held her phone up to take a selfie – only to squawk when Chloé leapt in, throwing her arms and legs around Adrien with a delighted cry… and Marinette was startled when she saw tears in Chloé’s eyes before the blonde gave Adrien one final squeeze, then got down.  Alya hrmphed and held up her phone again, and Chloé rolled her eyes and held her own phone up, taking a quick selfie with herself and Adrien, then… stepped back and let Alya , Nino and Adrien take a picture together.

The rest of the class rushed up, and Marinette joined them and even gathered the courage to throw her arms around Adrien in a quick hug, trying not to squeak when he actually gave her a quick squeeze back.

He was okay, he was rescued…

Everything was going to be turn out fine.

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 _Vssssht_!

Shadowhawk and Papillon teleported into a one bedroom flat just outside of Paris.  Papillon let out a long, slow, breath, looking around curiously.  It was a small flat, not much of note really.  Shadowhawk walked over to a laptop on a desk and booted it up, then plugged the flashdrive given to her, checking the information on it while Gabriel idly examined the apartment.  She checked her email, house phone and cell phone for new messages.  There were a few, but nothing really of note.

She finally nodded and stood up, turning to face Papillon, pulling her flashlight out of it’s holster and holding it on her palm.  “A good and fair deal, Papillon, now completed.”

Papillon nodded.  “Yes.  A good and fair deal, honored in full on both our parts.  Thank you… for saving Adrien.”

Shadowhawk bowed her head slightly.  “Thank you for letting me keep my little butterfly friend, to use if I have need."

Papillon smiled.  “I know you will not misuse or abuse the gift.  …Should I need your aid again-?”

“You need only call and I will be there.”

The Akuma phased out of the flashlight, steely blue wings edged like metal feathers, and fluttered to land on the corner of the open laptop as Shadowhawk de-akumatized and Papillon made use of his ensorcelled gemstone to teleport away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My note files were accidentally deleted!!  
> I'll be adding them later tonight/early tomorrow once I write them all up again!!
> 
> Sorry all!!
> 
> The most vital thing to know is that just as I did after TTSS, I'll be taking a hiatus of 2-3 months to get real life work done and build up as much of a buffer on the next fic (Monghost) as I can.  
> Miraculous Tales will be back in August or September! ^_^


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